Cape Town man says South Africans earn 4 times less than overseas peers for same work

A Cape Town man who relocated to Bali shared a TikTok video arguing that South Africans are criminally underpaid for their skills
He and his wife secured international remote jobs with an Australian agency and a US marketing firm based in Florida
South Africans in the comments flooded the post with their own wage gap experiences, from teaching to trucking to pharmacy

A man in his office. — A Cape Town man who moved to Bali. Images: @gidlankers
Source: TikTok

A Cape Town man living in Bali has gone viral after claiming that South African professionals are being paid a fraction of what their international counterparts earn for the exact same work.

TikTok user @gidlankers posted the video on 28 August 2026, speaking directly to camera from what appeared to be a home office. He described how he and his wife left Cape Town and eventually landed remote jobs while based in Bali. His wife joined an Australian e-commerce agency and he began working for a US marketing company in Florida.

To illustrate the wage gap without revealing their actual salaries, he used a hypothetical. Someone earning R20,000 a month in a South African marketing or communications role, he argued, could realistically earn R80,000 doing the same job for an international company. That is four times the pay for the same skill level and largely the same workload.

SA skills go globally underpaid

He acknowledged that international employers tend to raise the bar slightly, with higher expectations and more pressure. But he maintained the difference in compensation was far greater than the difference in difficulty. He pointed to US east coast firms in states like Florida and New York as particularly good targets for South Africans, since the time zone overlap is more manageable than with Australian companies.

His broader message was that South Africans simply do not apply for these roles.

"We don't back ourselves enough," he said, and offered to share exactly how the two of them landed their international positions if viewers were interested.

Data supports part of his argument. Average gross monthly salaries in the US sit at roughly R110,000, compared to South Africa's R26,500 to R29,500. Australian and UK figures land at around R95,000 and R71,500 respectively. However, the gap narrows considerably once purchasing power and cost of living are factored in, as everyday expenses in South Africa remain significantly lower than in most Western countries.

Watch the video that sparked the debate below:

Mzansi responds to the wage gap reality

South Africans filled the comments section on the TikTok page with their own experiences:

@Mj 🌍🇿🇦 wrote:

"Try being a black person 🫩🫩🫩"

@.Leona said:

"It's even worse when your South African black and qualified."

@TruckHer🌸 added:

"Trucking RSA - 30-40k. Trucking USA - 80-100k."

@yams 🌸 noted:

"And then there's SARS 🫩😡"

@Puleng_M🤍 said:

"Try being BLACK. And then a woman."

@Mateenah shared:

"Try being a teacher in South Africa. Underpaid isn't even a word 😭"

@Matthew_94 wrote:

"I moved from Cape Town to Germany 7 years ago and every time I visit Cape Town, the prices get closer and closer to the prices here. In fact, groceries in Cape Town is more expensive than in Germany. Let that sink in."

Cape Town man says South Africans earn 4 times less than overseas peers for same work

SA skills go globally underpaid

Mzansi responds to the wage gap reality

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