Eskom spokesperson Khulu Phasiwe resigns, says he needs to ‘recharge’

Khulu Phasiwe, the spokesperson of Eskom, has announced his resignation from the power utility.

It’s been a dreadful year for Eskom, with operational inefficiencies, crumbling infrastructure and dire financial burdens plaguing the state owned enterprise and, as a result, the South African public alike. The stress and frustration born out of load shedding – a symptom of Eskom’s grievous ineptitudes – has taken a severe toll. For Khulu Phasiwe, the burden has become too heavy to bear.

In the early hours of Friday morning, following recent promises of improvement made by Public Enterprises Minister, Pravin Gordhan, Phasiwe reached the end of his tether. The spokesperson, who has, undoubtably, been under immense pressure as a result of Eskom’s failures, sent a WhatsApp message to his close confidants, announcing his resignation.

Spokesperson Khulu Phasiwe is leaving Eskom

This is to confirm that I am currently serving my resignation notice at @Eskom_SA, and that my last working day will be on 30 April 2019. I'd like thank Eskom for entrusting me with the huge responsibility of being the national spokesperson of the company over the past 5 years. pic.twitter.com/zvV12GEwCr

— Khulu Phasiwe (@KhuluPhasiwe) April 5, 2019

Quoting various biblical versus, Phasiwe stated that he would “take some time off to relax and recharge, no pun intended”. The spokesperson also thanked his colleagues and friends for their support during a particularly dark time. Shortly after the news broke, Phasiwe took to Twitter, confirming the announcement made during his early morning rant, saying:

“This is to confirm that I am currently serving my resignation notice at Eskom, and that my last working day will be on 30 April 2019. I’d like thank Eskom for entrusting me with the huge responsibility of being the national spokesperson of the company over the past 5 years.”

Eskom load shedding will be mitigated, says Gordhan

The recent crisis at Eskom reached a climax in March, when the utility implemented consecutive Stage 4 rotational load shedding procedures. In addition to the inconvenience caused by protracted powerlessness, it’s estimated that unserved energy costs ripped upwards of R20 billion from the local economy.

Minister Gordhan, who addressed the media with a progress report on Wednesday, assured South Africans that load shedding would be mitigated during the winter months.