Despite being on the brink of bankruptcy, Eskom is diving into a multi-million-rand rebranding mission.

South Africa's power utility company is on the hunt for a new look, launching a tender to design logos and establish a fresh corporate identity for its three new subsidiaries: Generation, Transmission, and Distribution, as well as any future Eskom Group entities.

Agencies are being asked to work around a whopping R5 million budget per entity!

The tender isn't just about dreaming up a new logo. It's supposedly a major task, containing everything from printed and digital materials to marketing goodies and online assets.

And that's just the beginning. Rebranding means swapping out logos on buildings, all sorts of materials, and various digital platforms, MyBroadband reported.

With South Africans grappling with a 31.4% increase in electricity tariffs over two years and the looming threat of load shedding, many are questioning Eskom's decision to splurge on a logo facelift.

Ghaleb Cachalia, the DA's public enterprises spokesperson, isn't holding back his criticism. He's calling out Eskom for its "astounding" priorities, especially considering the company's life support system of taxpayer-funded bailouts.

Cachalia is urging acting Eskom CEO, Calib Cassim, to pull the plug on this tender, labelling it as foolish and a complete misdirection of funds.

While Eskom is busy picking out new fonts and colour palettes, Cachalia suggests the utility giant should instead be channelling its energy (and money) into boosting generation capacity and kicking load shedding to the curb for good.

Compiled by staff writer