The chief executive of South Africa’s troubled state monopoly Eskom has told police he survived an attempt to kill him with coffee containing cyanide, according to a government minister.
André de Ruyter was reportedly targeted a day after tendering his resignation from the blackout-prone utility last month, just before his exit was made public. He blamed a lack of support in President Cyril Ramaphosa’s government for his resignation, amid a battle to stem the worst blackouts on record in Africa’s most industrial nation and to tackle corruption endemic within the company.
Pravin Gordhan, the minister overseeing Eskom and other public companies, confirmed on Saturday that de Ruyter informed him of the alleged poisoning attempt. “This assassination attempt will be fully investigated and those responsible must be charged,” Gordhan told the Financial Times.
De Ruyter, who will remain as Eskom’s chief executive until the end of March until a replacement is found, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The alleged poisoning underscores the threat of a campaign by Ramaphosa to root out corruption in South Africa’s state-owned enterprises, mainstays of the economy, even after he tightened his grip on the ruling African National Congress in December with his re-election to the head.
The main opposition Democratic Alliance party said on Sunday that de Ruyter “not only has been left out amid ANC shenanigans, but now the criminal syndicates within Eskom are clearly determined to cement their grip on Eskom which is destroying the economy”. . . Firm and decisive action must be taken now.
South African firm EE Business Intelligence reported for the first time on Saturday that de Ruyter fell seriously ill after drinking coffee at Eskom headquarters and was rushed to doctors who found he had high levels of cyanide.
De Ruyter told the publication: “I reported the matter to [the South African police] on January 5, 2023, and it can be assumed that the matter is under investigation.
The Eskom crisis is seen as the biggest threat to South Africa’s economy and the ANC’s grip on power for decades ahead of national elections next year.
In 2022, South Africans suffered twice as many power outages as the previous year, as outages piled up at Eskom’s fleet of aging coal-fired power stations. New coal-fired power plants are also constantly operating. Power cuts continued throughout the festive period in South Africa and into the New Year.
De Ruyter made many enemies after his late 2019 appointment as he launched investigations into alleged criminal syndicates he was accused of abusing power cuts by piling supplies from power plants coal-fired electricity and sabotaging attempts to solve problems.
He is protected by a bodyguard at all times, as are other senior managers and even some power plant operators in the company.
“Make no mistake, Mpumalanga is a gangster province,” de Ruyter told the FT in October, referring to the coal-producing region where many of Eskom’s power stations are located. “We had contractors shot in their cars on the way to the site because they hadn’t given the right people jobs.”
Ruyter’s alleged assassination attempt “shows the intense battle going on between those who want South Africa to work and prosper; and those who want to get rich through corruption,” Gordhan said.
Eskom, heavily in debt, has struggled to fund plant maintenance and replenish diesel needed for emergency power reserves.
In deferred annual financial statements that were released last month, Eskom’s auditors warned of “significant control deficiencies” in the supply of coal, fuel and spare parts to power plants. In one incident, auditors added that key documents “were deliberately destroyed in a fire” after they were asked for them.
South Africa has seen a marked increase in politics-related killings in recent years, from ANC politicians to state officials and corruption whistleblowers. Activists have warned of the spread of assassinations in retaliation for investigations into corruption and threats against patronage networks.
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