DA calls on Ramaphosa to act following De Ruyter murder attempt

The DA has called on President Cyril Ramaphosa to act after outgoing Eskom chief executive officer (CEO) André de Ruyter was allegedly poisoned in December.

According to EE Business Intelligence, De Ruyter fell sick after his cup of coffee was laced with cyanide at his Megawatt Park office in Sunninghill, Johannesburg.

The incident took place a day after De Ruyter resigned as Eskom CEO.

‘Pravin’s silence is telling’

“The silence coming from Minister Pravin Gordhan – he should be loudly coming out in support of his CEO, even though his CEO has resigned,” said DA Shadow Minister of Public Enterprises, Ghaleb Cachalia.

“The DA calls on President Ramaphosa to outline to the nation exactly what is being done to address this mayhem. The DA will write to the president to demand action on this without delay.”

NOW READ: ‘Cyanide poisoning’: Eskom CEO André De Ruyter opens attempted murder case

According to reports, De Ruyter has opened a case of attempted murder. De Ruyter registered the case on Thursday, 5 January.

“The case can be assumed to be under investigation,” he told energy expert Chris Yelland.

Lack of qualifications

Speaking of the on-going load shedding crisis, in an interview on Newzroom Afrika, Cachalia said the main issue was the fact that there were a number of people in positions that they are not qualified to be in and this was the reason Eskom found itself in the mess that it is in today.

Ramaphosa on Sunday reiterated that plans are in the pipeline to end load shedding. He made the comments during his January 8th address at the Dr Petrus Molemela Stadium in Mangaung.

“The president has been saying this for ten years. He set up task teams, he was responsible for dealing with these issues and for ten years he has failed this particular state.”

‘No plan to combat load shedding’

“Now, at the 111th anniversary of the party, he says the same thing (he will fix it). You know, it will snow today before he does. Load shedding will continue until I die. There is nothing in terms of paper or action that shows to me, ordinary South Africans or to businesses what is [going] to solve the matter,” said Cachalia.

ALSO READ: Ramaphosa: ANC’s top priority is to end load shedding