Boet, the tekkie's on the other foot
Tekkie Town founder out to make Pepkor old boys' club pay
Tekkie Town founder Braam van Huyssteen, whose acrimonious resignation from Steinhoff Africa Retail sparked a walkout of senior management and staff from the discount footwear retailer - a wholly-owned subsidiary of the group - says he intends starting a rival Tekkie Town. "I want to start over again. I want nothing to do with these people," he says, referring to "the Pepkor old boys' club" that runs STAR. STAR bought Tekkie Town from Steinhoff for R3.4-billion. It has been the best performer in its struggling speciality fashion and footwear division, which Van Huyssteen led, but he says it will go nowhere now. "It's a car without an engine." He says hostility between him and the Pepkor leadership started after Steinhoff CEO Markus Jooste bought Tekkie Town in 2016 for R3.2-billion. "When we got purchased after I met Jooste through my racing connections, I was seen as another find of Jooste's." The Pepkor brass would ask, sneeringly: "How's that deal you did on the racecourse doing?...
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