JOOSTE: REPAY THE LOOT

Over 15 years, Steinhoff’s CEO has scored R492m in salary and bonuses. If he messed up, shareholders must reclaim some of that windfall

Markus Jooste, the 56-year-old accountant who this year reportedly likened himself to “Robin Hood”, became fantastically wealthy as the CEO of Steinhoff.

Most CEOS get rich by holding a large stake in their company, which then grows in value — as Koos Bekker has done at Naspers. But in Jooste’s case, he’s made a packet in salary and bonuses, alongside his shares in the floundering furniture retailer.

Jooste’s total pay, Financial Mail calculations show, amounted to a staggering R492.7m over the past 15 years, including R212m in “bonuses”.

The heftiest chunk of this — R286m — was paid to him in just the past three years. Now, that’s also the time period in which Jooste’s inner circle allegedly stitched together some of the shady deals overseas (in Germany and Switzerland).

These deals, according to insiders who spoke to this magazine, are the reason Deloitte refused to sign off Steinhoff’s financials for the year to September 2017. They are at the core of the “accounting irregularities” that led to Jooste’s resignation.

But Steinhoff Africa Retail (Star), which was spun out of Steinhoff, did manage to release its audited figures two weeks ago. Thanks to Star, we now know that for the year to September, Jooste walked away with R121m — R75m of which was a bonus.

Now, that is degrees more than was paid to CEOS of bigger Jse-listed companies, including Anglo American’s Mark Cutifani (R68.2m), Naspers’s Bob van Dijk (R28m), Firstrand’s Johan Burger (R35.5m) or Stan-

Business Leadership SA CEO Bonang Mohale says if wrongdoing at Steinhoff is proven, shareholders should claw back bonuses