Sikonathi Mantshantsha’s departure comes at the end of his three-year fixed-term contract at Eskom. Before his tenure at the utility, he worked as a journalist for the Scorpio Daily Maverick, Business Day Financial Mail, Bloomberg, and Fin24. During that time, Eskom was one of Mantshantsha’s main covered topics. He agreed to join Eskom in 2020 to lead its media desk during a period in which it needed to restore trust and credibility in its dealings with the public and stakeholders. “Over the course of three years, Mantshantsha helped improve Eskom’s public image by driving honest and frank communication in the media domain on Eskom’s real position during a difficult period characterised by operating difficulties and increased load-shedding,” the utility said.

“This has seen Eskom become more accountable, agile, and transparent in its external positioning while increasing its share of voice with regular executive team briefings to the public on key developments.” In MyBroadband’s own experience, Mantshantsha and his team were generally fast to respond to queries and forthcoming about the seriousness of Eskom’s challenges. Acting Eskom CEO Calib Cassim said Mantshantsha was a catalyst for Eskom improving transparency and frequency of information sharing and had dealt with several difficult media engagements during his tenure. “Eskom is grateful for his contribution to our organisation, and we wish him well during his next journey,” Cassim said.

Eskom said that Daphne Mokwena will act as Eskom Group spokesperson with immediate effect while the recruitment process for a permanent spokesperson was underway. Mokwena is currently the senior manager for Eskom’s retail centre of excellence and has worked at Eskom for 21 years. She has also served as the Gauteng customer services senior manager and Gauteng distribution spokesperson dealing with challenging issues like Soweto’s electricity debt.