By: Motshabi Hoaeane
A hustler at heart and prolific businessman, Boitumelo Oliphant has authored his first book titled Opportunity Rate: Redefining Work and Hope in South Africa.The book, first released on Amazon, brings into focus new labor perspectives and calls for new methodologies to call attention to informal traders, street vendors and hustlers in South Africa’s socioeconomic context.
The book also delves into themes like unemployment, redefining work, building opportunity outside formal employment, and the contradictions of formal data that monitors the culture of work in the country. According to the author, the book is “a direct response to systematic exclusion, especially in South Africa.”
“The book exposes how our current metrics ignore those who are working outside formal structures yet contributing daily to the economy and society. It’s not a rant; it’s a reframe,” he says.
Oliphant’s book explores the shifting landscape of work, with a focus on putting solutions on the table for South Africans living under the strain of current socioeconomic challenges. It calls for the use of innovative measurement tools that also take into account the complexity of the township economy. The book also subtly advocates for equitable representation of the hustler economy, outside traditional formal labor structures.
The dominant theme of the book is the need to recognize the intricate links that make hope and dignity possible for people who are not captured within formal means of earning a livelihood. It emphasizes how mislabeled labor complexities create confusion and pressure, leaving people feeling stuck and unable to work freely or grow at scale.
“The old system measures work by job titles and payslips. But mavericks don’t fit that mold,” Oliphant says.
“I propose a new way to track whether someone is engaged in meaningful economic activity, even outside formal jobs. It looks at value created, skills used, and whether the work is sustainable or impactful,” he says.
The book upholds principles of justice, inclusivity and human dignity, foregrounding the need for policy to move in tandem with historical context and the evolving world of work.
In the book, the author calls for a new lens to be used in defining categories of work, which he says are not evolving fast enough to include everyone affected by the country’s unemployment crisis.“It’s time we measure work by contribution, not just contracts,” he says.
The book is available on Amazon.com and Bogoni.co.za
The book inspired a foundation, you can learn more about it on : www.hidden-worker.co.za
For more information you can also contact: boitumelo@bogoni.co.za
