DA calls on Ramaphosa to outline what is being done after alleged attempted murder of De Ruyter

The DA has called on president Cyril Ramaphosa to outline what measures are being done to find the culprits responsible for the alleged attempted murder of outgoing Eskom CEO André de Ruyter. 

De Ruyter filed an attempted murder charge after he was allegedly poisoned last month, shortly before his resignation was officially announced.

EE Business Intelligence reported De Ruyter fell ill after drinking a cup of coffee at Eskom’s offices in Sunninghill. He collapsed after vomiting, shaking and being unable to walk and his bodyguards took him to a clinic near the Megawatt office park.

A doctor diagnosed De Ruyter as suffering from cyanide poisoning.

DA MP Ghaleb Cachalia called on Ramaphosa to outline to the nation exactly what is being done to address the alleged attempted murder. 

"The DA calls on president Ramaphosa to outline to the nation exactly what is being done to address this mayhem? He needs to do so immediately and must be held to account for every act of omission or commission that has brought us to this sorry state of affairs," said Cachalia. 

"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. Load-shedding – rolling blackouts – continue to hobble the economy and have become an embedded feature in the daily lives of millions of South Africans."

Speaking to journalists on Monday, Ramaphosa expressed concern about recent attempts on the lives of De Ruyter and of Fort Hare vice-chancellor Prof Sakhela Buhlungu.

“It is concerning that those who have taken strong positions on issues of integrity and corruption may well be victims or targeted. That is concerning, and I commiserate with them,” said Ramaphosa.

“I should say that there are people who often come under threat and professor Buhlungu is one of those. He had a personal protector and the attack that was levelled against his protector could well have been aimed against him as well.” 

He said he was also aware of Eskom managers who were facing similar threats.

“I know one manager at Eskom who goes about wearing a bulletproof vest to work, who has two stand-in personal protectors at any given time. His wife also has two protectors and his children go to school with protectors as well.

“That goes to show you the threat that some of the people we deploy live under.”