Khulu Phasiwe, the communications professional many South Africans knew through Eskom’s electricity updates, has died. eNCA reported on 6 October that his family had confirmed his death. He was serving as head of corporate affairs and communications at Air Traffic and Navigation Services, known as ATNS.
His public career connected several different worlds: financial newspapers, the national electricity utility, radio astronomy and the Office of the Public Protector. Eskom made his name familiar to a broad audience, but it was one part of a longer record of explaining institutions and their work.
Khulu Phasiwe was a former Eskom spokesperson whose career also included financial journalism, science communication and public-sector communications. At the time of his death, he headed corporate affairs and communications at ATNS.
The journalist behind the spokesperson
Before becoming a prominent institutional spokesperson, Phasiwe worked in financial journalism. TimesLIVE’s obituary report identifies Business Day and Business Report among his former employers.
That background helps explain the range of his later work. Financial journalism and corporate communications address many of the same subjects, but from different positions: reporters question organisations, while spokespeople explain their decisions and respond on their behalf. Phasiwe’s career included both sides of that exchange.
In its tribute, the African Media & Communication Forum recognised his contribution beyond a single employer. TimesLIVE quoted the organisation as saying:
“We honour the life, legacy and invaluable contribution of Khulu Phasiwe to the media and communications sector in Africa.”
Becoming a familiar Eskom voice
The South African government news service’s April 2019 account supplies a useful chronology. Phasiwe joined Eskom’s media desk in 2008, occupied the deputy spokesperson position in 2014 and was appointed spokesperson in September 2015.
BIOGRAPHY
Khulu Phasiwe Dies: A Career From Journalism to Eskom and Public Life
Oct 6, 2026
Oct 6, 2026
6 min read
Published
Updated:
Khulu Phasiwe, the communications professional many South Africans knew through Eskom’s electricity updates, has died. eNCA reported on 6 October that his family had confirmed his death. He was serving as head of corporate affairs and communications at Air Traffic and Navigation Services, known as ATNS.
His public career connected several different worlds: financial newspapers, the national electricity utility, radio astronomy and the Office of the Public Protector. Eskom made his name familiar to a broad audience, but it was one part of a longer record of explaining institutions and their work.
Khulu Phasiwe was a former Eskom spokesperson whose career also included financial journalism, science communication and public-sector communications. At the time of his death, he headed corporate affairs and communications at ATNS.
The journalist behind the spokesperson
Before becoming a prominent institutional spokesperson, Phasiwe worked in financial journalism. TimesLIVE’s obituary report identifies Business Day and Business Report among his former employers.
That background helps explain the range of his later work. Financial journalism and corporate communications address many of the same subjects, but from different positions: reporters question organisations, while spokespeople explain their decisions and respond on their behalf. Phasiwe’s career included both sides of that exchange.
ADVERTISEMENT
In its tribute, the African Media & Communication Forum recognised his contribution beyond a single employer. TimesLIVE quoted the organisation as saying:
“We honour the life, legacy and invaluable contribution of Khulu Phasiwe to the media and communications sector in Africa.”
Becoming a familiar Eskom voice
The South African government news service’s April 2019 account supplies a useful chronology. Phasiwe joined Eskom’s media desk in 2008, occupied the deputy spokesperson position in 2014 and was appointed spokesperson in September 2015.
He became a recognisable representative of the utility during a period when electricity supply and rolling blackouts dominated public discussion. For households and businesses, Eskom’s announcements carried immediate consequences for their plans. Its spokesperson had to communicate developments at an institution facing intense scrutiny.
Phasiwe announced his resignation in April 2019, with his last working day set for 30 April. His departure ended more than a decade at the utility, including several years in its most visible communications role.
In SABC’s contemporaneous report on his resignation, he described the difficulty of responding to repeated problems:
ADVERTISEMENT
“Almost everyday, every week there’s a new thing coming so it was very difficult.”
The remark offers a direct glimpse of how he experienced the job, rather than a retrospective judgement about his performance.
Explaining South Africa’s radio astronomy work
Phasiwe’s later career included the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory, or SARAO. Its own publications name him as head of communication and science engagement, providing an institutional record of that role.
A SARAO release about a MeerKAT image of the Milky Way lists him in that position. The work placed him within an organisation responsible for major South African radio astronomy facilities and research programmes.
He also appears as SARAO’s communications contact in its announcement of the start of SKA telescope construction. Together, those records show a strand of his career that extended beyond the electricity brief for which he was best known.
His role was in communication and public engagement. The telescope discoveries belonged to the researchers and scientific teams; Phasiwe helped represent the institution communicating their work.
TRENDING NOW
POPULAR TODAY
ADVERTISEMENT
A move to the Public Protector’s office
Phasiwe took up the spokesperson position at Public Protector South Africa with effect from 1 May 2024. EWN’s appointment report quoted the institution’s acting spokesperson, Ndili Msoki, describing his experience in financial journalism and corporate communications across the public and private sectors.
The appointment moved him into another institution whose work frequently requires public explanation. It followed his years communicating electricity matters and scientific research, adding an oversight body to his professional record.
Current death reporting places his final role at ATNS. That position continued the public-sector communications thread of a career that began in newspapers.
Selected career milestones
Year | Event | Significance |
2008 | Joined Eskom’s media desk | Began a long period at the electricity utility. |
2014 | Served as deputy spokesperson | Took on a more prominent public communications role. |
2015 | Appointed Eskom spokesperson in September | Became one of the utility’s recognisable public representatives. |
2019 | Left Eskom at the end of April | Closed his chapter at the utility. |
2022 | Named in SARAO releases as communications and science engagement head | Documented his work communicating South Africa’s astronomy programmes. |
2024 | Became Public Protector spokesperson on 1 May | Added a public oversight institution to his career. |
2026 | Served as ATNS corporate affairs and communications head | Held this role at the time his death was reported. |
Phasiwe’s Eskom years explain why many readers recognise his name. His broader record shows a communicator who also worked with financial news, scientific institutions and public oversight.
The professional tribute reported by TimesLIVE reflects that wider contribution. His career is remembered through the institutions he represented and the public explanations he helped deliver, as well as the electricity updates that brought him into South African homes.
ADVERTISEMENT
RELATED ARTICLE
