Due to the high unemployment in South Africa, citizens have resorted to finding gaps within the formal sector, creating informal employment for themselves, running errands.
- A lack of job security pushes people to trade in the informal sector, with women the most affected.
- Runners use social media platforms to conduct their business and reach customers.
- The runners typically operate in big, bustling cities.
It’s a Wednesday evening in September, Kamogelo has just arrived at her residence after a long day of teaching practicals. She is now on a call trying to correct a mix-up with orders she placed last weekend from Johannesburg to Pretoria’s Mamelodi Mall.
Kamogelo Matshate (22), a final year bachelor of education student at Wits University, has been a runner since May 2024. On Wednesdays and Saturdays, she goes to Johannesburg CBD, Dragon City and China Mall to buy items for customers and send them via courier services.
People who buy items on behalf of others are referred to as personal shoppers or runners. Matshate is guaranteed at least R1,000 at the end of each month, which she makes by charging a runner fee of R150-R250, depending on the size of the order.
The informal sector pays the bills
A report by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) released in March 2025 shows that South Africa’s informal sector accounted for 19.5% of total employment in the fourth quarter of 2024.
This is in line with scholarly research, which shows that the majority of people operating in South Africa’s informal sector enter it out of necessity, a direct result of the country’s tough economic climate.
“This is particularly true for economically marginalized groups, most notably youth and women. Due to a lack of formal opportunities, black women are disproportionately forced to enter the informal sector,” said Siphelele Ngidi, an associate researcher on the labour market project at the Southern Centre for Inequality Studies at Wits.
This is true in Matshate’s case. She felt pushed by circumstances to become a runner. Her mother, who was a volunteer at a non-profit organisation (NPO), earning an incentive of less than R2,000 a month, was released from her duties in April 2024. Matshate’s mom took up the volunteering role as she had given up on hopes of formal employment. She has been applying for jobs for years with no luck.
A 2023 study by Stats SA, reported that the participation of women in the labour force remained lower than that of men, at 54.3% compared to 64.9% for men. This is a byproduct of South Africa’s history, where the labour market was separated on the basis of race and gender. Unfortunately, this remains true 31 years into democracy.
In addition, moments of uncertainty like the 2008 global financial crisis and the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic saw millions of people lose their jobs and enter the informal sector for survival.
Seeing her single mom fail to secure a job for years and struggling to provide for her little brother, who was then in matric, devastated Matshate. Her National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) allowance of R1,700 was not enough to feed her and her family back home.
“My mother doesn’t have Facebook, so it would have been difficult for her to market products to people. I have 7,300 followers on Facebook, which gave me a starting advantage.
“Referrals also help boost my customer base and trust,” said Matshate, who has been using the money she makes from running errands to feed her family and pay for their funeral policy.
“Factors like the quality of employment can push people into the informal sector. When formally employed people are paid below a living wage, they may quit their jobs for full-time informal work or keep their jobs and do part-time work in the informal sector,” said Ngidi.
Essential middle(wo)men
This is the reason Nonti Mpofu (40), is a part-time runner in Johannesburg. She works four days a week as a domestic worker and two days a week as a runner. Her supply base goes beyond South Africa, as she stocks many items for customers in Malawi and Zimbabwe.
Mpofu has created a name for herself, and her customers value her service. “I stay in Pongola and sell in Ndubazi area, under Sishelweni region, Eswatini, leaving Pongola to stock in Joburg slows down my business, as I have to carry my bags and knock door to door selling.
Sending money to auntie Nonti to stock for me saves me money and gives me an opportunity to maximise on sales,” said Lengton Bishi, Mpofu’s customer from KwaZulu-Natal.
Standing next to a young man who was using a clear pallet wrap to wrap a parcel from the first floor of the Lotto building in Joburg CBD, “Depending on how big the parcel is, wrapping ranges from R20-R50. We do it to keep a customer’s parcel safe. Obviously, if the parcel arrives without the wrap, I’d know someone tempered with it,” said Mpofu.
Inside the large black plastic bag were baby diapers. Mpofu plans to take the parcel to Newtown to put it on a bus to Zimbabwe for a fee of R200. Her customer runs a small business in a village called Dewedzo.
Runners benefit the formal market, as they use transportation services like buses and taxis, courier services like PEP’s Paxi and shops for stock.
Mpofu charges between R100 and R150 for orders up to R1,000. For orders up to R4,000, she charges 15% of the order amount, and for orders above R4,000, she charges 10% of the order amount. This is how she makes a profit.
Most of the stores where Matshate and Mpofu buy stock encourage bulk buying, which allows for negotiation, discounts and ultimately increased profit.
Through this informal trading, these women are able to feed their families. Mpofu has built herself a house, sent her son to college and her daughter to a private primary school.
The informal sector in South Africa is growing, with Stats SA reporting a rise in informal businesses from 1.5 million in 2013 to 1.9 million in 2023, consistent with the rise in unemployment.
Moreover, the informal sector has the same dynamics as the formal sector as more men are employed than women.
Filling a technological gap
The shops that Matshate and Mpofu stock from use only WhatsApp to market their products. They do not have business websites, which makes it difficult for their customers to shop directly from them. When customers are unsatisfied with a product they ordered online, there is usually a procedure they can follow to return it. However, they cannot do that with the type of shops runners typically source from.
As a result, runners take the place of an online presence. Filling an essential gap and going above and beyond to satisfy their customers. “Unlike ordering online and getting surprised, I get in store [sic] and feel the quality of the product, see if it matches the product description. If it does not, I quickly inform my customer before stocking up,” said Matshate.
According to GG Alcock, author of Kasinomics, informal economies are highly fragmented, and opportunities lie in aggregated models. For example, the success of Uber lies in aggregating millions of drivers on a single app. Uber recognized that a million drivers are more powerful than a hundred thousand taxis.
Similarly, runners understand that a thousand customers are better than trying to set up a thousand individual shops. Aggregation models are being used in the informal sector because that is where opportunities lie. Using technology for marketing, making payments and orders, including messaging apps like WhatsApp and Facebook, helps numerous informal businesses aggregate their businesses.
Challenges of being a runner
When Wits Vuvuzela attempted to get a perspective from the store owners and workers on their experience with runners, they refused to speak. “They are afraid that you might be working with the Johannesburg Metro Police,” said Mpofu.
Johannesburg Metro Police often raid, and confiscate items sold in the shops Matshate and Mpofu buy stock from because most of the clothing shops sell counterfeit products. “Though runners are not directly harassed, there is a ripple effect on the success of their business because of these police raids,” said Ngidi.
Anele Zwane, a 24-year-old student in Pietermaritzburg, became a runner in 2024. Her plan was to help busy people with their grocery shopping for a small fee of R150, but she did not get any customers.
She soon realised, “Things are expensive in Martizburg, I could not be a runner for any other thing except food. Unfortunately, people here prefer shopping on their own. They viewed paying me R150 to help them as a rip off,” said Zwane.
Mpofu attested that location is key, as she left Estcourt, KwaZulu-Natal, her hometown, for greener pastures in Joburg. “No one needs anything from Estcourt but most people in Estcourt need a lot of things from Johannesburg. And some of my customers are from Estcourt,” said Mpofu.
Mpofu, Zwane and Matshate claim it is rare to find a runner who works outside of Johannesburg and Durban, runners typically operate within these cities.
The South African informal sector is growing rapidly as many citizens need to put food on the table and formal employment is either not available or not paying enough. The policies of trade in the informal sector make it difficult for some to enter. The solution lies in the informal and formal sector working together and using aggregation models and technology to boost the country’s economic status.
FEATURED IMAGE: Dragon city where runners buy hair and other products for their customers. Photo: Lulah Mapiye
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