Khulu Phasiwe

Khulu Phasiwe, the South African communications professional best known to the public as a spokesperson for the state power utility Eskom, has died, according to news reports. He died on 4 October 2026, the date recorded in public records, though at the time of writing his place of death, his age and the circumstances surrounding his passing have not been made public.

Phasiwe became a familiar face and voice to South Africans during his years as an Eskom spokesperson, a period in which the utility was at the centre of the country's prolonged electricity crisis. Spokespeople for Eskom during that era were regularly called upon to explain rolling blackouts, known locally as load shedding, to an anxious public, and to field difficult questions from journalists about the state of the national grid. That role placed Phasiwe in South African living rooms and newsrooms on a near daily basis for long stretches, making him one of the more recognisable institutional voices in the country during a difficult chapter for Eskom.

Beyond the headlines about blackouts, serving as a spokesperson for a state owned enterprise as large and as politically sensitive as Eskom required navigating constant public scrutiny, parliamentary oversight and intense media pressure. Those who held the position were expected to balance transparency about the utility's operational failures with the corporation's institutional interests, a task that frequently drew criticism from multiple directions regardless of how it was handled. Phasiwe's tenure in that seat is part of why his death has been noted in the news rather than passing quietly.

The news of his passing was first reported as a brief announcement describing him simply as a former Eskom spokesperson who had died, without further detail at that stage. As is often the case in the earliest hours after a public announcement of this kind, the initial reports were short on specifics, and fuller information about the cause of death, funeral arrangements and tributes from colleagues and former employers had not yet emerged at the time this page was first published.

This page will be updated as more verified information becomes available, including confirmed details of his full biography, his age, his family, and the circumstances of his death. Readers should treat any unconfirmed details circulating at this early stage with caution until they are verified by reputable sources.