A critical legal analysis of worker protection in the informal sector in South Africa

Abstract

This study presents a critical discourse on the persistent challenges posed by informalisation of work. South Africa continues to grapple with high unemployment, poverty, and structural underdevelopment, leaving the formal sector unable to absorb the growing labour force. Hence, informal sector has become a critical survival strategy and a potential site for innovation in skill development, rights enhancement, and poverty alleviation. Yet, despite its importance, informal workers remain excluded from labour protections, social security, and collective bargaining, exposing them to systemic vulnerabilities. Using a doctrinal research approach, the study observed that that existing literature acknowledges these exclusions but provides limited analysis of recent interventions, such as the Department of Employment and Labour’s 2022 task team, and insufficient exploration of collective bargaining as a mechanism for inclusion. This study addresses this gap, examining whether South Africa’s labour legislative framework extends sufficient protection to informal workers, including self-employed individuals, contractors, and unregistered domestic workers. By focusing on legal and policy analysis of South Africa’s labour legislation, international treaties ratified by the country, and secondary data from Statistics South Africa, Women in Informal Employment: Globalising and Organising (WIEGO), and International Labour Organization (ILO) reports, the study conducted a systematic evaluation of structural impediments, enforcement weaknesses, and the normative benchmarks for decent work. It is asserted that extending collective bargaining and unionisation to informalised workers could serve as viable pathways for extending protections and promoting inclusive economic growth