Photographer: Waldo Swiegers/Bloomberg
Steinhoff’s Angry Hometown Erases Traces of Its Fallen Star
The company was once a source of local pride, its name seen all around Stellenbosch. Now scandal has sullied the affluent town’s reputation.
As thousands gathered near Cape Town last weekend for South Africa’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 Holdings NV is at the center of the accounting scandal that’s wiped some $14 billion 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.