Don't bot against the human touch — why AI won't replace Africa's call centre jobs
When I was in my second year of varsity I spent six months working the night shift in a call centre in the Cape Town CBD.
It sounded like a great idea on paper: I would be answering incoming phone calls for a large German airline (in German). How exciting, I thought somewhat naively, I'm going to help people to book their holidays all over the world.
It was only after I started the job that I realised the truth about call centres and the people who phone them. No happy Germans were going to call me to book flights for them. The people who were phoning were the ones who had run into a problem they couldn't solve. They couldn't reschedule a return flight, or their luggage had been lost, or their connecting flight had been cancelled.
In most instances, these were problems that I, a 19-year-old student sitting in an office in Cape Town, could not solve. Instead, my job was to de-escalate the situation as much as possible.
People phoned in an absolute rage and I explained to them, as nicely as possible, why the airline couldn't help them, until they resigned themselves to their fate and hung up. If I did my job well enough they would end the call slightly less angry.
I thought about this story when the City of Cape Town announced the opening of a brand-new call centre by TP Group (formerly Teleperformance), one of the largest business process outsourcing (BPO) firms in the world. The centre will seat 3,500 staff and there are plans to grow this to 10,000 by the end of 2025.
This is not a one-off success story either. In Cape Town alone, nearly 100,000 people work in call centres. The industry poured R23-billion into the city's economy in 2024. That's a lot of people earning a living by telling people they can't solve their problems.
Africa's moment is here
South Africa has become Africa's crown jewel of customer service, consistently ranking as a top destination globally for BPO. But Kenya, Egypt, Ghana, Ethiopia and Rwanda are quickly coming up behind.
Africa's BPO workforce stands at about 1.2 million full-time equivalent roles, according to research from CCI Global and the Everest Group. By 2030 this number is expected to more than double, with up to 1.5 million new jobs created. So what's driving the boom?
Start with cost: African markets offer labour cost savings of up to 80% compared with Western markets. Then there's the continent's demographic edge. Africa is home to the world's youngest population, brimming with digitally savvy, multilingual talent.
Governments are helping too by offering tax incentives, training programmes and infrastructure that make cities like Cape Town, Nairobi and Kigali more attractive by the year. Add to that a favourable time zone, and all the stars are aligning.
Global companies want quality service at lower cost. African countries want jobs. And in between, a huge, untapped workforce is saying 'let's go'.
But what about the robots?
Of course, no conversation about customer service jobs in 2025 is complete without bringing artificial intelligence (AI) into the room (preferably with a name like Claire or Ava and a polite British accent).
The fear about AI disruption in the BPO space is real. What if all these shiny new call centre jobs are just a temporary stopgap before conversational AI replaces the need for human agents altogether?
On its LinkedIn page, Phonely AI (a company offering 'natural, human-like conversations with 100+ AI voices, voice cloning and seamless turn-taking') proudly announced that one of its clients had replaced 350 call centre workers with a single subscription. Some experts estimate that AI could handle 70% to 80% of customer interactions in the next two to three years.
Many of the companies that tout the virtues of AI talk about its efficiency. But most people don't call a support line because they want efficiency. They call because something has gone wrong and they need help. They want empathy. Nuance. Someone who knows the difference between 'I'm locked out of my account' and 'I'm about to lose my mind'. And no matter how much data you feed a virtual agent, emotional intelligence doesn't come standard.
A total of 70% of contact centre managers, in a study by Calabrio, said they believe AI will lead to more human agents, not fewer. That's because the human touch is moving up the value chain. Agents are increasingly seen as brand guardians, trusted to manage the emotionally complex, reputationally risky or high-stakes interactions that AI simply can't handle.
Think of it as a collaboration: AI handles the grunt work and human agents step into the conversations that actually matter. The future isn't AI instead of people. It's probably more like AI plus people.
What this means for Africa
Africa is perfectly positioned to thrive in this hybrid model. The BPO jobs being created now aren't the dead-end, headset-in-a-booth clichés. Increasingly, they're pathways into tech, training and long-term careers. As the role of the agent becomes more complex and valuable, so does the need for upskilling, and that's where African talent can shine.
Many of the call centre workers of today will be the AI supervisors, customer experience designers and data interpreters of tomorrow. And the infrastructure being built (both physical and digital) will serve as a launchpad for broader tech industry growth across the continent.
Cape Town's newest call centre isn't just a building. It's a bet on people. On empathy. On the idea that, in a world obsessed with automation, being able to connect with another human is still one of the most valuable skills around. DM
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Daily Maverick
38 minutes ago
- Daily Maverick
The consultants who supported CEF's Sapref oil refinery gambit
Consultants downplayed previous warnings given to the Central Energy Fund about the purchase of Sapref's oil refinery in South Durban, which has serious implications for the state and the public. When the Central Energy Fund (CEF) purchased the South African Petroleum Refinery (Sapref) refinery from fossil fuel giants Shell and BP in May 2024, major red flags were raised about the viability of the purchase. CEF bought the refinery anyway, and on a problematic 'clean break' principle. This let Shell and BP off the hook for the significant environmental and other liabilities that come with the refinery. Now, CEF and the broader public are on the hook instead. In the first article in this series, we showed that CEF's decision to go ahead with the purchase seemed to ignore important parts of the due diligence that CEF initially received in 2021 and the risks that had substantially increased since the devastating floods in KwaZulu-Natal in 2022. Now, we turn to the consultants that gave CEF advice and appear to have pushed the transaction over the line: CLG (formerly the Centurion Law Group) and Mazars. Their later advice downplayed previous warnings given to CEF about the purchase, which has serious implications for the state and the public. Given these implications and risks, the question at hand is why the board of CEF did not heed the earlier warnings. CLG and Mazars' advice in 2023 The documents provided to Open Secrets by the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) reveal that CEF initially received advice from Mazars, the lead transaction adviser, as well as Ceris Engineering and law firm Fasken. Together, the advice highlighted the significant liabilities that any purchaser of Sapref would take on and warned against allowing Shell and BP to walk away without paying towards these. These were discussed in detail in the first article. However, the transaction advice provided by Mazars and CLG after the KZN floods told a different story. For instance, the 2021 due diligence undertaken by Certis Engineering estimated decommissioning costs of the refinery were around $374-million (R6-billion). Its advice was that 'the Buyer [CEF] should ensure that at least $374m is provided for before giving the Seller a clean break ' (emphasis added). The 2021 advice from Mazars also used this figure as the estimated decommissioning liabilities. In 2024, Shell and BP paid just R335-million to cover some employee and operational costs as part of the final deal and walked away with a 'clean break', exempting them from any decommissioning costs. We asked Shell and BP what they had estimated as the decommissioning costs of the refinery, as well as the amount that they ended up paying to CEF, but they declined to comment, citing confidentiality. Without any explanation, the 2023 transaction advice from Mazars and CLG suddenly estimated that the total liabilities associated with the refinery were only R1.6-billion – including both soil and groundwater remediation, and decommissioning costs. There is nothing in the documents explaining how the full liabilities were now only around 25% of the initial 2021 estimates of only the decommissioning costs. We asked Mazars to explain the change in the estimates, but they did not respond to Open Secrets' questions. This is particularly confusing given the extensive damage done in the 2022 floods. However, using this figure allowed Mazars to state that the purchase would result in a net asset value (NAV) of R1.1-billion. The other notable difference in the 2023 advice from Mazars is that there is much less detail provided about the economic risks facing the future of the refinery sector, including the threats posed to its viability by the electrification of the transportation sector. This is a notable omission because, in the intervening period, the South African state had made new energy vehicles (NEV) a 'priority area' in terms of South Africa's Just Energy Transition Investment Plan (JET IP). The initial due diligence said any significant shift to NEV vehicles risked making Sapref a stranded asset very quickly. The advice received in 2023 aligned more closely with CEF's existing narrative – focusing on the strategic value of reducing fuel imports to South Africa, noting that 'opportunity has arisen [for CEF] to become an influential player in liquid fuels'. It repeatedly stresses the growth in fuel imports and the strategic importance of securing supply locally. The document makes no mention of a 2022 warning from the South African National Energy Association (Sanea) that the arguments around security of supply were no longer applicable given the global refining market, also arguing that the refinery could become a stranded asset in as little as 10 years. There were also apparent errors in the 2023 advice. For example, it stated that the refinery's operations 'currently contribute R45-billion to GDP' and 'sustains 780 direct jobs' and up to 85,000 people through contractors, indirect, and induced jobs. It is not clear how these figures were calculated given the refinery had been shut down and underwater for several years. In fact, Sapref had undertaken mass retrenchments and no maintenance. Yet despite downplaying the economic risks and talking up the future positive impacts of the Sapref refinery, even the 2023 Mazars/CLG advice did not totally ignore the risks of taking on the refinery's liabilities on the 'clean break' principle. It labelled the risk of this as 'high' and noted that CEF should either obtain third-party insurance against possible future claims and liabilities or establish a dedicated separate fund for these future risks. In line with the earlier legal review from Fasken, Mazars noted that one of these risks was class action claims in the future by communities near the refinery. It warned the CEF that the claims could be 'exorbitant and far-reaching', citing the R5-billion silicosis class action case that was settled in 2016 and noting that BP and Shell had refused to include these types of claims in the sale and purchase agreement (SPA). Despite these warnings and the host of other concerns raised in the earlier due diligence, it was announced that CEF had purchased Sapref a mere month after Mazars and CLG presented this advice to CEF's board in April 2024. A problematic partnership seals the deal There is one other notable way that the Mazars transaction advice documents from 2023 differ from those in 2021. At the end of the slides provided in 2023, there is a contact person listed from another organisation; CLG, formerly the Centurion Law Group. The later transaction advice given to CEF by Mazars lists two contact people: Taona Kokera, a director at Mazars, and Oneyka Ojogbo, a director and lawyer from consulting firm CLG. Mazars acted as the lead transaction adviser from 2021 through to its completion, and there is only one other mention of CLG in the documents that Open Secrets has access to: in a number of comments made in track changes on the draft Sale and Purchase Agreement (SPA) between BP, Shell and CEF dated 2 May 2024, a couple of weeks before the purchase was announced. Founded by prominent oil and gas lobbyist NJ Ayuk, who has since stepped down as CEO, CLG is often referred to in the media as a 'South African legal firm'. However, it is not registered with the Legal Practice Council and is more accurately understood as a typical professional services firm that provides a broad range of consulting, legal and other services under one roof. CLG has 25 offices and more than 300 attorneys and 'business advisers', with major offices in nine African countries, including its Sandton office in South Africa. CLG describes itself as an 'undeniable leader' in oil and gas development. Its office at Suite 43, Katherine and West, in Sandton, is the same address linked to the African Energy Chamber (AEC), where Ayuk is chairperson. The AEC is overtly an oil and gas lobby organisation aiming to attract investment and build capacity in the oil and gas sector across Africa and hosts the annual 'African Energy Week' in Cape Town, focused on developing the oil and gas sector across the continent. There is also a notable South African political connection in the AEC. Nosizwe Nokwe-Macamo is on the advisory board, and sits on the 'Local Content Committee', 'Investment Committee', and 'Natural Gas Committee' of the advisory board. Nokwe-Macamo was the CEO of PetroSA for three years between 2012 and 2015, but was suspended and ultimately left after the state-owned entity posted a nearly R15-billion loss in 2015. In 2024, she made a return to state-owned oil and gas when she was appointed by Gwede Mantashe to the board of the brand-new South African National Petroleum Corporation (SANPC). It is unclear when exactly CLG was contracted to work on the project, but the advice that it contributed to was certainly more supportive of the decision to purchase the refinery and more bullish on the future of the oil refinery business. Their advice on this transaction also overlapped with the period Mazars and CLG were giving dubious advice to CEF's then subsidiary – PetroSA – on a separate oil and gas deal. In February 2025, amaBhungane revealed that Kokera had led the Mazars team that gave the green light to three dubious deals between PetroSA and Gazprom, and PetroSA and Lawrence Mulaudzi. Mazars was brought on to advise on the deal in September 2023 and provided a final due diligence report in October 2023. The due diligence labelled Mulaudzi as a 'low-risk' partner, despite publicly available information that he had been involved in alleged corruption in his own business dealings. The PetroSA deal fell apart in June 2024 after Mulaudzi and EquaTheza failed to provide the R227-million that was promised. Mazars has come under fire for its involvement in this deal for several reasons. The final due diligence report it provided was insufficient and left out crucial details it had identified in earlier due diligence about the risks associated with Mulaudzi, his company Equator Holdings, and the financial and technical capabilities that EquaTheza had to take on a project of this nature. Mazars has denied any wrongdoing. Additionally, Mazars was also accused of overcharging PetroSA for the work it did. Mazars had sub-contracted CLG in its work for PetroSA, and Ojogbo had billed as if she had worked on the project from 8am to 7pm every day of the week for two months, charging R4,160 per hour. PetroSA's internal audit team alleged that Ojogbo and Mazars had engaged in 'double dipping'. PetroSA has since written to Mazars, demanding a refund of just over R1-million, but it is unclear whether this has happened. Additionally, the audit team raised questions around Mazars' potential blacklisting by National Treasury for future business with the state if Mazars had, in fact, overcharged and underdelivered. PetroSA's internal audit team also pointed out that CLG had an obvious conflict of interest. In advising PetroSA, they would draft contracts and undertake due diligence on Mulaudzi and his companies. Yet Equator's bid to PetroSA listed CLG as its partner. Mazars and CLG – led by Kokera and Ojogbo – were thus advising CEF on its decision to purchase the Sapref refinery at the same time as providing advice to PetroSA which has since been called into serious question. Both Mazars and CLG failed to respond to detailed questions from Open Secrets regarding the due diligence, the discrepancies in the transaction advice provided to CEF in 2021 and 2023, and their views on the serious concerns raised by other firms in the due diligence process. CEF board signs off and then stalls Regardless of the motivations of those providing the advice to CEF, its board – chaired by Ayanda Noah – still had the responsibility to carefully apply its mind to all of the advice before making the decision to purchase the refinery and on what terms. The scramble to create the South African National Petroleum Company (SANPC), a merger of CEF's subsidiaries – PetroSA, Strategic Fuel Fund and iGas – to spur investment in the country's oil and gas sector has also been a large factor behind the acquisition of Sapref. While it is speculative, it may be that the desire to rapidly consolidate the SANPC and expand its operations led the CEF board to gloss over the very real consequences of purchasing a defunct refinery, taking on its enormous liabilities and the myriad risks identified in the due diligence phase. Despite the more positive tone of the later advice from Mazars and CLG, it still called for further due diligence and a 'comprehensive review of financial records, legal documents and environmental assessments'. Crucially, the CEF board motivated to proceed with the sale just one month after receiving this advice, insufficient time for a further comprehensive due diligence process. Open Secrets sent detailed questions about the transaction to both the Central Energy Fund and Department of Petroleum and Mineral Resources but received no response from either. Since the purchase, CEF and the SANPC (now officially in operation and staffed) have argued that the rehabilitation of the refinery is the answer to national energy security and job creation. They have repeatedly indicated their aim to increase the refinery's capacity from 180,000 barrels per day to 600,000 barrels (bbl) per day, to create a 'mega-refinery'. Yet there is no sign of any progress in this regard. In fact, in February 2025 reports arose suggesting that the state was realising it could not afford to rebuild the Sapref refinery nor expand its capacity to 600,000bbl on its own. Deputy director-general in the Mineral and Petroleum Resources department, Tseliso Maqubela, and Minister Gwede Mantashe told Parliament in February 2025 that they were looking to regional partners – including Angola's Sonangol or Botswana Oil – to help rebuild the refinery. The state thus now sits with a defunct and out-of-date refinery with enormous social and environmental liabilities. It may not have the capital to get it going again, and even if it does, many experts suggest it will be a stranded asset in the near future. Its former owners, Shell and BP, have disappeared into the sunset. All the while, the communities of South Durban continue to bear the disastrous health costs and environmental devastation caused by the refinery. DM Open Secrets is a nonprofit organisation which exposes and builds accountability for private-sector economic crimes through investigative research, advocacy and the law. To support our work including the investigations that go into the Unaccountable series visit Support Open Secrets
TimesLIVE
11 hours ago
- TimesLIVE
From turbulence to take-off: Transport minister reveals SAA is flying back into profit and expansion
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TimesLIVE
13 hours ago
- TimesLIVE
Our MINI Countryman SE packs hot hatch pace
We are about halfway into our six-month test with the MINI Countryman SE. Not only is it the largest car from the German-British brand, but it is also the most expensive and the second quickest from 0-100km/h in the MINI SA range. We have put the five-door, family-friendly vehicle through much so far. It has proven its adeptness as a daily commuter, tackling the requirements of Johannesburg with its silent operation that offers a serene experience for driver and occupants. No hassles on the space front, with capacious rear quarters and a surprisingly commodious boot, including a separate nook for charging capables that does not impede luggage volume. The car has also shown its suitability to longer hauls, with its range in excess of 400km, allowing for confident cross-province travel. Last month we managed a 465km round-trip to Wolmaransstad in the North West to check out an off-grid solar charging facility. Its latest challenge was a shakedown at Gerotek, customary with almost all the long-termer test units that pass through our hands in the motoring hub of the Arena publishing machine. Living with an electric vehicle, one quickly gets into a routine of charging. Living in a flat means there was no possibility of installing a charging wallbox in my parking bay. Besides the abundance of public charging facilities (there are two within a 5km radius), we also have a 9kW AC outlet at our office, making life easier. Sometimes one resorts to slow charging via the standard wall socket. I made sure to top the battery up the night before our run to the test facility in Tshwane. Driving there at 6am from my flat in Roodepoort I showed restraint in using the heater and heated steering wheel to keep the drain on power to a minimum. Extra-cautious behaviour, as my range was still about 350km by the time I arrived at Gerotek. There was an early morning downpour which dampened the air and made for a wet surface down the long straight. A good test for the all-wheel drive system (ALL4 in MINI-speak) transmitting the electric powertrain's 230kW/494Nm onto bitumen. This brand has a good sense of humour, which is reflected in elements such as the dedicated Go-Kart mode, denoting the sportiest state of tune. In a more strait-laced BMW product that would be known as Sport Plus. I opted to launch the MINI off the line as one would a traditional internal combustion engine car, with a foot on the brake, simultaneously planting the power pedal. Letting go of the anchor, the heavy Countryman heaves upwards in sprightly fashion. On our best run it registered a 0-100km/h sprint time of 5.48 seconds. This is hot hatchback territory, a sprint time that would embarrass a Volkswagen Golf GTI without fuss. All while producing no tailpipe emissions — or noise pollution, for that matter. Interesting to note our achieved sprint time bested the claimed time by the manufacturer, which is 5.6 seconds. The Countryman SE is quicker than the MINI Cooper JCW, with its claimed sprint time of 6.1 seconds. It is not quicker (on paper) than the petrol-powered Countryman S, however, which quotes 5.4 seconds. Not a big difference anyway. But the dynamic handling track revealed that some of the brand's other claims about the Countryman are slightly less believable. It might have a Go-Kart setting and MINI's custodians enjoy punting the 'kart-like' feel of the vehicle. However, this is a family car and not a sharp dynamic instrument. The big MINI struggles to hide its weight and dimensions, with noticeable body-roll and understeer amplified by the damp surface. In fairness, this was to be expected. Still, road rivals who underestimate the sprinting abilities of your cute-looking MINI will find themselves in for a big surprise. Next, our MINI is set to receive Swedish headwear in the form of a Thule roof-box, setting it up for the prospect of more long-distance exploring. LONG-TERM UPDATE 4 | MINI Countryman SE ALL4 ODOMETER ON DELIVERY: 4,621km CURRENT ODOMETER: 6,800km PRAISES: Impressive straight-line sprinting abilities.
