Stellenbosch residents ‘cheesed off’ after Marcus Jooste-shaped wrecking ball hits the town
As thousands gathered near Cape Town last weekend for SA’s oldest horse race, five-time owner-of-the-year Markus Jooste was nowhere to be seen. But he wasn’t forgotten. The former CEO of Steinhoff International is at the centre of the accounting scandal that has wiped approximately $14bn off the retailer’s market value and roiled the wealthy enclave of Stellenbosch, where many prominent business leaders live, work and play. Jooste would probably have met a chilly reception at Kenilworth Racecourse this year. "People are cheesed off," said Heather Steel, as she waited near the grandstand between races last Saturday. "He’s lost a lot of people money, a lot of pensioners too." Jooste led an acquisition spree that turned Steinhoff into a global retailing giant, a national champion and a source of pride in Stellenbosch, home to its plush South African headquarters and one of the country’s elite universities. Surrounded by vineyards and the Helderberg and Simonsberg mountains, the town’s ...
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