For the chief executives of most leading British companies, occupational hazards include the media publishing details of their salary, the occasional protest at the annual meeting and, if they are really unlucky, the unions turning up on their front drive to stage a demonstration.
It’s certainly nothing along the lines of what has just been endured by Andre de Ruyter, the outgoing chief executive of Eskom, South Africa‘s state-owned electricity generator.
Mr de Ruyter, who is due to step down in March, confirmed at the weekend that last month he survived an attempt to poison him using cyanide.
The specialist energy information publication EE Business Intelligence had earlier reported that, on 13 December, Mr de Ruyter had drunk a cup of coffee laced with cyanide. The day before, he had submitted his resignation letter to Mpho Makwana, the Eskom chairman.
EE Business Intelligence said Mr de Ruyter had been drinking the coffee in his office at the company’s head office, Eskom Megawatt Park, in Sunninghill, north of Johannesburg. It said he became “weak, dizzy and confused, shaking uncontrollably and vomiting copiously” before he collapsed and was taken to a doctor.
It said he had been treated for poisoning after it was discovered there were “massively elevated levels of cyanide in his body”.
Mr de Ruyter, 51, told the newspaper Business Day: “The opening of the case was delayed by a long wait for the results of the second test, which I assume was due to the festive season. After my doctor sent me the results and interpreted the results for me, I consulted with advisers as to my next steps.”
He said he did not immediately report the incident to the police but did so once it became clear that it was going to find its way into the public domain.
He added: “I didn’t particularly want the sensation that has now resulted.”
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