On 12 December 2022 — one day after submitting his resignation as Eskom CEO — Andre de Ruyter drank a cup of coffee at his office in Megawatt Park that had been laced with cyanide. What followed was a medical emergency that nearly ended his life.
After drinking the coffee, de Ruyter became weak, dizzy, and confused. He began shaking uncontrollably and vomiting copiously. He collapsed, unable to walk, and was rushed to medical care by his security detail. The diagnosis was cyanide poisoning. Subsequent tests confirmed "massively elevated levels of cyanide" in his body.
The method was deliberate and planned. De Ruyter's coffee machine had been "serviced" that morning. His personal assistant had left his personalized mug unattended at the machine. One of the individuals who worked on the coffee machine subsequently absconded from work and disappeared.
De Ruyter reported the attempted murder to SAPS on 5 January 2023. A case was opened at Hermanus police station and transferred to Sandton for investigation by the Gauteng Provincial Investigation Unit.
The motive is widely believed to be linked to de Ruyter's anti-corruption efforts at Eskom. During his tenure (January 2020 to March 2023), de Ruyter had been attempting to root out the "Eskom mafia" — networks of coal suppliers, contractors, and internal employees who had been looting the utility for years. These networks generate billions of rands annually from inflated coal contracts, diesel fraud, and sabotage that creates emergency procurement opportunities.
Intelligence reports circulated alleging involvement by senior political figures, though these remain unsubstantiated. What is not in dispute is that someone placed a lethal poison in the CEO's coffee at the headquarters of South Africa's most important state-owned enterprise, and the perpetrators have not been caught.
The de Ruyter poisoning is the most dramatic single act of the Eskom corruption war — a literal attempted assassination of the CEO for trying to stop the looting. It demonstrates that the networks feeding off Eskom's dysfunction are willing to kill to protect their income streams.