Beyond the Blackouts: Eskom’s Unshakable Reputation as a National Villain

Even as the lights have stayed on for months, the shadow over Eskom’s reputation remains long and dark. According to a new AI-driven analysis of South Africa’s top media publications, the power utility isn’t just struggling with grids and debtit’s losing the narrative war spectacularly. Eskom has been rated as having the worst media sentiment of all large South African companies, state-owned or private, with a staggering negative score of -268.

The report by Press Pulse, which uses natural language processing to measure sentiment in top-tier business reporting, reveals a stark gap. While most large companies enjoy a positive score over 100, and other embattled state-owned enterprises like the SABC, Transnet, and the Post Office range between -20 and -45, Eskom’s rating plummets into a league of its own.

The Weight of History: Corruption, Prices, and “State Capture”

The findings suggest that Eskom’s operational improvementsmost notably the suspension of load sheddingare being overwhelmingly overshadowed in the media by deep-seated, negative associations. The utility is still widely linked to corruption, mismanagement, and state capture, themes powerfully amplified by former CEO André de Ruyter’s public revelations.

The most resonant issue with the public, and thus the press, remains the relentless rise in electricity prices over 15 years. “Many people believe they should not have to bear the cost of inefficiency, mismanagement, and corruption at Eskom,” the report notes. This sentiment, coupled with ongoing crises like municipal debt and financial misstatements, creates a cycle where negative coverage drowns out positive developments.

A “Significant Media Challenge” with Real-World Impact

For Eskom, a score of -268 isn’t just a PR problem; it’s a “significant media challenge” with tangible consequences. It affects public cooperation, political will, investor confidence, and the social license to implement necessary reforms and tariffs. The report implies that Eskom’s communication strategy is failing to reshape a narrative cemented by years of failure and scandal.

While the utility fights to keep the lights on, this analysis shows it is losing the battle for public trust in the court of media opinion. The data proves that turning around a physical infrastructure is one thing; repairing a shattered reputation, especially when steep tariffs remind consumers daily, is an entirely different and perhaps far more difficult task. For now, in the eyes of South Africa’s most influential publications, Eskom remains the country’s corporate villain.