Digital Transition Without Justice Is a Risk Africa Cannot Afford
Introduction
In 2024, I had the privilege of participating in a month-long study conference convened by the International Labour Organization through its ACTRAV programme in Geneva. The discussions centred on green transition, artificial intelligence, digital platforms, and the formalisation of informal economies. Trade union leaders from different regions confronted a defining question: how should labour respond to structural transformation that is moving faster than our regulatory systems can adapt?
Last year, that conversation continued in Johannesburg, where I joined fellow labour leaders as a panel discussant on digital transition. What was once conceptual has become immediate. Across Africa, the language of productivity is being rewritten. The industrial equation — work as physical force applied over distance — is giving way to digital command applied through connectivity. Data, not dirt, is increasingly described as the new driver of value.
The logic is compelling. But it is incomplete.
Issues
Africa enters this digital transition with structural realities that cannot be ignored.
First, informality remains high. A large share of workers operate outside formal employment protection. Digital platforms may offer opportunities for inclusion, but without proper regulation, they may also entrench precarious work.
Second, connectivity gaps persist. If digital command is the new productive force, then broadband access is no longer a luxury, it is infrastructure. Uneven access risks creating a new digital divide layered on top of existing inequalities.
Third, there is a growing skills mismatch. Automation and artificial intelligence are evolving rapidly, while training systems remain fragmented and reactive.
Finally, there is regulatory lag. Many labour frameworks were designed for traditional employment relationships. Platform work, remote work, and digitally mediated services do not always fit neatly into existing legal categories.
Technological acceleration without institutional preparation may widen inequality faster than it drives growth.
Analysis
The digital economy rewards connectivity, scale, and specialised capability. Those without digital literacy, infrastructure, or access to capital risk marginalisation. Platform models, while innovative, often transfer risk downward to workers who carry volatility without stable protections.
We must therefore distinguish between digital efficiency and inclusive development.
The International Labour Organization has advanced the concept of Just Transition, the principle that economic transformation must be socially inclusive, dialogue-driven, and anchored in decent work. Although originally articulated in environmental contexts, its relevance to digital transformation is unmistakable.
A just digital transition requires:
1. Social dialogue before disruption occurs;
2. Forward-looking skills and reskilling systems;
3. Extension of labour protections into platform and non-standard work;
4. Public investment in universal digital infrastructure.
If digitalisation is treated purely as a technological upgrade, it may deepen labour precarity. If treated as a development strategy, it can catalyse formalisation, expand middle-income employment, and strengthen productivity.
Trade unions cannot afford nostalgia for an industrial past. Nor can we retreat into reflex resistance. Our responsibility is to shape the architecture of transition, influencing how productivity is defined, how worker-generated data is governed, and how social protection adapts to evolving forms of work.
This is not resistance to change. It is leadership within change.
Conclusion
Africa’s digital future will not be determined by algorithms alone. It will be shaped by institutional foresight, policy discipline, and the strength of social dialogue.
Efficiency without inclusion is instability postponed.
If we allow digital transformation to proceed without embedding justice at its core, we may record higher productivity while weakening social cohesion. But if we anchor innovation in skills development, fair regulation, and universal access, digitalisation can become a foundation for shared prosperity.
The digital transition is inevitable.
Whether it strengthens our societies or fragments them depends on the choices we make now.
Technology will define the speed of change, but policy will define who benefits from it.
Kenneth K. Koomson