A bad week for Massmart CEO Mitchell Slape

A good week

Good week and Steinhoff aren’t terms we generally feature in the same sentence and yet CEO Louis du Preez has managed to raise the company’s settlement offer, increasing the odds that the scandal-ridden retailer will do what no-one else has ever done — rescued a company so unbelievably compromised from the jaws of death. Sure, Steinhoff faces more than 100 claims of more than R130bn, so its R21.5bn salve isn’t exactly generous, but it’s a whole lot better than the less-than-nothing mess Markus left behind.

A bad week

Mitchell Slape must really love his job. The Massmart CEO, sent in from Walmart HQ to resuscitate its stricken African venture shows no sign of throwing in the towel, though its latest update is truly dire. While other retailers sprang back from last year’s lockdown with fat, Covid-flattered sales gains, Massmart managed to notch up a mere 4.4% rise. Game went backwards — quite a feat if you consider it was closed for much of the prior period. The brand is wrecked, and that was before the looters had at it. Its end is surely imminent.