South Africa’s President, Cyril Ramaphosa has commended Amazon for its commitment to creating over 3000 jobs for locals. Ramaphosa notes, in his weekly newsletter, that this development comes at a time when many businesses are doing all they can to stay afloat in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown.
“Our economy is in the throes of the anticipated fallout from this global crisis. The predictions of businesses shutting down and jobs being lost are materialising,” he writes.
In spite of this, Amazon is investing in the creation of new virtual jobs in Customer Service in South Africa. The company says that these roles will range from customer service associates to technical experts who will work virtually and provide 24/7 support to Amazon customers in North America and Europe.
The addition of 3,000 permanent and seasonal full-time positions will bring the total permanent workforce in South Africa to 7,000.
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“The announcement last week by Amazon that it is on a drive to hire up to 3 000 South Africans for a variety of positions is a welcome signal, as is the announcement that local energy storage company Metair has secured a number of contracts from the Ford motor company, and that the Pan-African cloud and data solutions entity Africa Data Centres has acquired a hi-tech data centre in Johannesburg,” says Ramaphosa.
“We are thrilled with the talent in South Africa and we are excited to add 3,000 skilled jobs this year in Customer Service, and to help keep people working during this unprecedented time,” said Andrew Raichlin, Director of Amazon Customer Service in South Africa.
“The new jobs reflect our continued commitment to South Africa’s economic development, and I am proud to have South Africa be a growing part of our ability to deliver a great experience to Amazon customers around the world and provide employees with the opportunity to work safely from home.”
