Sonn becomes acting boss of Steinhoff

RETAIL group Steinhoff said yesterday that it had appointed Heather Sonn as acting chair of the company, following Christo Wiese’s resignation amid an accounting scandal. The company said Sonn was also a member of the independent committee of the supervisory board – including Dr Johan van Zyl and Dr Steve Booysen – charged with providing stable leadership and oversight to Steinhoff during this period. The global retailer is structured according to the Dutch governance convention of a supervisory board of non-executive directors and a management board of executive directors. Steinhoff said Daniel Maree van der Merwe, formerly chief operating officer, had been appointed acting chief executive of the group, and Alexandre Nodale his deputy. Wiese, Steinhoff chairman and major shareholder, had stepped down in the wake of revelations of accounting irregularities which saw its chief executive Markus Jooste quit and its shares lose more than 80 percent of their value. – African News Agency (ANA)