Opinion by Faiez Jacobs

Cape Town is now one of the most important “headset cities” in the world. We may not call it that in everyday conversation, but the figures are clear: the City of Cape Town has publicly celebrated a milestone of 90,000 people employed in Cape Town call centres, after the sector added more than 10,000 local jobs in a single year (March 2023 to March 2024).

Nationally, the growth story is also real. South Africa’s global business services sector created 20,518 jobs in 2024 and contributed $328 million in export revenue, according to BPESA reporting. The dtic’s Global Business Services incentive, effective from 1 January 2019, is explicitly designed to create employment through offshore servicing, with a specific emphasis on youth (18–34) and export revenue.

BUT…. If this industry is a success story, why do so many workers experience it as a trap? Even CapeBPO admits the sector’s growth has outpaced its human standards.

Let me introduce you to ‘Faieza Jacobs’,26 years old, single, Cape Flats mother working in call centres for the last 5 years. Like many, she knows how to calm an angry customer. She knows how to follow the script. She knows how to smile in her voice when she is tired. She knows what it feels like when a supervisor says, “Just improve your numbers.”

What Faiza also knows, even if nobody says it out loud, is this: If she breaks, the system will not stop. It will replace her. That is the truth of the call-centre economy in Cape Town. And it is time we spoke it plainly.

The lie we are told: We are told: “At least you have a job.”We are told: “Don’t complain, the industry can leave. We are told: “This is global competition. This is how it works.”

But let’s be honest. A job that keeps you tired, anxious, and scared to speak is not a gift. A job that cannot pay a living wage is not an opportunity. An industry that grows on fear is not development. It is an extraction.

IT IS EXPLOITATIVE BECAUSE:

• multinationals control contracts and pricing

• local operators compete on costs

• wages and working conditions become the pressure valve

• public incentives subsidise the job numbers

• workers carry the psychological cost

• profits and strategic control sit elsewhere

What the headset economy really does. Call-centre work is not easy work. But it is not just “hard”, it is mentally heavy. It is high-intensity brain work and emotional labour under constant surveillance.

Faieza carries: other people’s anger; other people’s panic; other people’s disrespect. Faieza and others are measured every second. Your voice is recorded. Your breaks are timed. Your worth is a score.

And all the while, you are reminded quietly that someone else is waiting for your seat. That is not empowerment. That is structured fear and control.

“If you push too hard, the jobs will leave.” Let’s talk about that. This is the threat always used to silence workers: “Be careful. If you ask for more, the work will go elsewhere”.

Let’s slow that down. The industry came to Cape Town for reasons: language, time zone, infrastructure, incentives, talent, and stability.

Not because labour is cheap but because labour is good. In fact, the Faieza’s of the world is KWAAI, is resilience, is flexible and amazing. Faieza IS our advantage.

The truth is this: An industry that can only survive by paying poverty wages and breaking people is not strong. It is fragile. And fragile industries collapse anyway through burnout, attrition, instability, and now automation.

Strong industries invest in workers. Strong industries build loyalty. Strong industries reduce churn. Strong industries last.

This is not radical. It is common sense. The real danger is not workers demanding dignity. The real danger is staying cheap forever

Here is what happens if we do nothing:• workers like Faieza will be burnt out by 30• skills stagnate• AI replaces routine work• multinationals keep control• profits leave• communities stay poor

That is the real risk. Not militancy. Not organisation. Not dignity. Stagnation. Decline.

What workers are actually asking for (it’s not unreasonable): Faiza Jacobs is not asking to be rich.

She is asking for:

• a living wage, not survival pay

• predictable shifts, especially as a parent

• respect, not micromanagement

• real growth paths, not promises

• mental health support, not posters

• a future, not endless probation

These are not extreme demands. They are basic human needs.

Why ownership matters and why this must change now

Right now, too much of the call-centre industry works like this:• local people do the work• foreign companies control the contracts• government pays incentives• workers take the pressure• profits leave

That is not development. That is modern-day slavery and post-colonial extraction with better branding.

If Cape Town is serious, we must change the deal. That means:• worker share ownership• black-owned BPO firms• women and youth in management• local suppliers in the value chain• profit-sharing, not only salaries.

PRACTICALLY, here are feasible models:

• ESOPs (Employee Share Ownership Plans): a portion of shares held in trust for employees, with vesting tied to tenure and performance.

• Co-operative service providers: worker-owned teams providing specialised services (QA auditing, training, WFM support) to larger operators.

• Profit-sharing based on audited surplus: a transparent formula tied to contract profitability, not managerial discretion.

• “Seat-lease to ownership” models: workers build equity points over time that convert into ownership stakes or retirement savings.

Because jobs without ownership keep people dependent.

To the young people inside the industry: I want to say this with respect. You are not weak because the work affects you. The work is designed to be intense. Your exhaustion is not failure. It is information. To workers: you have power even if you don’t feel it. Faiza and thousands like her run this industry.

Without workers:• no calls are answered• no contracts are delivered• no service scores exist

But here is the hope: the headset economy runs on humans. Without your labour, no contract is delivered, no customer is retained, no quality score is achieved.

So the call to action is practical:

• organise into worker forums at workplace level

• build collective documentation of conditions and abuses

• demand dignity standards linked to incentives• push for ESOPs, profit-sharing, and internal career ladders

• partner with community organisations and labour structures to negotiate as a bloc• insist that “jobs” must become “careers,” and careers must become “assets”

That is power. Not shouting power. Not chaos power. Collective power.

Organise. Talk to each other. Share information.Demand standards. Demand ownership. Demand dignity.

Silence protects exploitation. Organisation changes industries.

To industry: choose partnership, not extraction. This is the message to operators and investors: You can build a high-road industry in Cape Town:

• better wages

• better retention

• better skills

• better global reputation

Or you can chase cheap labour until AI replaces it. The future will reward the first choice. We cannot undo the past. We cannot rewrite how outsourcing entered the country. But we can decide what happens next.

Cape Town can remain a global delivery hub, yes. But it must also become a global model for something bigger: A services economy where black people, women, and youth are not only the hands and voices but also the owners, the innovators, the suppliers, and the builders of wealth.

Faiza Jacobs and tens of thousands like her should not only be “employed,” they should be uplifted into the value chain. That is what a just modern economy MUST look like.

Faiza Jacobs is not disposable. Neither is this city. Neither is our future.

We do not need fewer call-centre jobs. We need better call-centre jobs with ownership, dignity, and a future. That is not radical. That is survival done properly.

 

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