THE South African Police Service has confirmed that they are investigating a case of attempted murder.
This after Eskom’s outgoing CEO Andre de Ruyter was allegedly poisoned in December.
The EE Business Intelligence reported that De Ruyter became ill after “drinking a cup of coffee” at Eskom’s Megawatt Park offices in Sunninghill.
He allegedly collapsed after vomiting, shaking and being unable to walk, and his bodyguards took him to a clinic near Megawatt Park.
News24 reported that a doctor diagnosed De Ruyter as suffering from cyanide poisoning, this after they had found elevated levels of the poison in his blood on 13 December.
Eskom’s head of security Karen Pillay told Daily Sun: “Eskom cannot comment further on the poisoning incident involving the group chief executive, which occurred during December 2022.”
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Pillay said the matter is subject to police investigation.
According to police spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Mavela Masondo, a case was opened at Hermanus Police Station in the Western Cape on 5 January 2023.
He said the case has been transferred to Sandton Police Station and will be investigated by the Gauteng Provincial Investigation Unit.
Meanwhile, the Democratic Alliance’s shadow minister for public enterprise Ghaleb Cachalia said the attempt on De Ruyter’s life was done when he was dutifully attending to his duties in the wake of his resignation, allegedly pushed upon him by factions in the ANC as part of a perceived deal to secure President Cyril Ramaphosa another term in power.
“Not only has De Ruyter been left out to dry amidst ANC shenanigans but now criminal syndicates within Eskom are palpably hell-bent on cementing their stranglehold on Eskom that is destroying the economy. It is clear that they will stop at nothing.
“All this worthy of a mafia movie, now plays out while the ANC does nothing to secure our electricity supply despite DA requests to take decisive action,” he said.
