Uber promised South Africans better lives but knew drivers risked debt and danger, promising to empower a new breed of independent entrepreneurs. The Uber Files, however, show that executives made decisions that imperiled the financial and physical health of drivers to achieve their own success.

Some drivers say they are worse off than when they started because Uber made policy decisions that deprived them of their ability to earn a living and heightened the risks of driving in some parts of the world.

Uber drivers faced particular peril after the company began allowing cash payments — a move the company once opposed as too dangerous — as it sought to expand its customer base to South Africans who used traditional taxi services and may not have had credit cards. Drivers became more vulnerable to robberies and attacks, but many chose to keep working for Uber because, in a country where one in three adults are unemployed, they had few other options.

The Washington Post’s Douglas MacMillan talks about how the company enticed drivers in the developing nation with lucrative subsidies, then undermined these workers with policies that made their jobs more perilous.

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