South African Police eskom ceo poisoning
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Police in South Africa are investigating an alleged plot to poison the outgoing Chief Executive Officer of Eskom state power utility, André de Ruyter.

"The alleged incident will be thoroughly investigated and anyone responsible charged," Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan told Reuters Sunday.

This came weeks after André de Ruyter survived an alleged attempt to poison him with coffee, shortly after he submitted his resignation. The incident took place on Dec. 12, 2022, after he drank a cup of coffee that contained cyanide at his office at Eskom Megawatt Park in Sunninghill, Sandton, according to sources familiar with the incident.

"De Ruyter became weak, dizzy, and confused, shaking uncontrollably and vomiting copiously. He subsequently collapsed after he was unable to walk," the source told EE Business Intelligence.

He was immediately rushed to the doctor's office where he was diagnosed with cyanide poisoning. Tests also confirmed that there were elevated levels of cyanide at 41.31 micrograms per liter in De Ruyter's blood, which is significantly higher than the normal level of 15 micrograms per liter, Times Live reported.

"Eskom cannot comment further on the poisoning incident involving the group chief executive, which occurred during December 2022, as the matter is subject to the police investigation," the utility's head of security said in a statement, as per The Guardian.

De Ruyter also revealed the matter has been reported to the South African police as of Jan. 5 and an investigation has been launched.

"I have reported the matter to [the South African police] on January 5. 2023, and the case can be assumed to be under investigation," he told the outlet.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) strongly condemned the attempted poisoning of the Eskom CEO.

The DA believes that De Ruyter has been left to deal with the African National Congress' (ANC) mess by himself amid the efforts of the criminal syndicates within Eskom to cement their control over the company and destroy the economy in the process.

The DA further called on President Ramaphosa to explain the actions taken by the government to fix the country's electricity problems.

"Load shedding, rolling blackouts, continue to hobble the economy and have become an embedded feature in the daily lives of millions of South Africans," said the DA, as per Times Live.