The DA rejects, with the contempt that it deserves, a tender issued recently by Eskom in which they are asking suppliers to provide services for the design of a new logo and the development of a new corporate identity.  

This is a completely unnecessary vanity project that contributes nothing towards solving South Africa’s loadshedding crisis and neither does it help consumers who are struggling to pay sky high electricity prices. 

The DA is calling on the acting Eskom CEO, Calib Cassim, to immediately rescind this tender as it amounts to frivolous expenditure. Eskom’s response to consumer pleas that they cannot no longer afford the entity’s expensive tariffs, after they imposed a 31,4% tariff increase early this year, is to go and fish for a fresh new look to match their new windfall. 

With Eskom keeping the country on edge with their repeat warnings that loadshedding can be introduced on a short notice, it is astounding that their priority at the moment is a logo change. Instead of looking for ways to increase generation capacity and do away with loadshedding permanently, Eskom thinks it is necessary to focus their strategy on sprucing up their image. 

South Africans are currently going through one of the worst cost of living crisis in recent memory, thanks in part to Eskom’s sky high electricity tariffs. This after taxpayers have spent over R180 billion bailing out Eskom with no corresponding improvement in the supply of electricity. Early this year, R254 billion of Eskom’s debt was taken over by government and is now the financial burden of overstretched taxpayers. 

One would assume that Eskom would at least show some level of corporate remorse by spending taxpayer money responsibly. Through this logo and rebranding contract, they are probably going to spend millions of rand on money that could be better spent elsewhere. Cassim should do the right thing and cancel this tender as a matter of urgency. 

 

Issued by Ghaleb Cachalia MP - DA Shadow Minister of Public Enterprises