With the tender period over, is Eskom still going ahead with its planned rebranding and new logo?

17 November 2023

While presenting Eskom’s annual financial statements for 2022/23, in which the entity recorded a R24 billion loss, the acting CEO – Calib Cassim, pointed out that any concerns around the proposed new logo and corporate identity for Eskom should let the tender runs its course. He made an undertaking to re-evaluate the process and ‘decide on the way forward…. because [if] there is a tender doesn’t mean it would result in a contract’.

With the tender period having closed on 2 November 2023, there has been no update from Eskom on whether the tender will be going ahead or not.

It is for this reason that the DA has submitted written questions to the Minister of Public Enterprises, Minister Pravin Gordhan, to provide answers on the following:

1. Is Eskom still going ahead with the tender which closed at 10 am (SAST) on 2 November 2023? Please provide reasons for the response.

2. How many companies submitted an application for the tender?

3. How much was/is Eskom expected to spend on the design of the new logo and corporate identity Eskom?

4. How much was/is Eskom expected to spend on the launch of the new logo and corporate identity?

5. Who at Eskom took the decision to tender for the design of a new logo and corporate identity?

6. Did Minister Gordhan approve the decision for Eskom to tender for the design of a new logo and corporate identity? Who else at Eskom approved this decision? On what basis was this decision approved by these individuals?

7. Why does/did Eskom need a new logo and corporate identity in the middle of an electricity crisis?

8. Why was this the appropriate time for Eskom to issue a tender for a new logo and corporate identity?

9. How will a new corporate logo and identity contribute towards assisting Eskom to end load shedding and to, further, deal with the fiscal challenges that it is currently experiencing?

Yesterday, Eskom announced the escalation of loadshedding to Stage 3 confirming that they are simply unable to meet the electricity demand no matter how hard they run their ageing coal fired power stations. Yet, amidst a failure to deliver on its mandate, Eskom thinks the priority is to get a shiny new logo and corporate identity.

The DA has already made its position known on this frivolous expenditure when it wrote to Cassim and asked him to cancel the tender as it is outrageous and not justifiable by any rational measure or means. The DA has also made it clear to Cassim that such expenditure will be an insult to consumers who are not only struggling to pay for basic food stuffs but also struggling to pay their electricity bills after Eskom imposed a 31,4% tariff increase over two years.

Eskom has been bankrupt for a while now and has been kept afloat by taxpayer funded bailouts, the most recent of which was the R254 billion Eskom debt takeover by government – which debt takeover will only worsen the country’s already precarious debt burden. It is therefore simply astounding that Eskom sees a change in its logo and corporate identity as a priority when they are literally surviving on taxpayer money.

Issued by Mimmy Gondwe, DA Member of Parliament, 17 November 2023