Justice was closing in on Jooste — slowly but surely

The death of Markus Jooste by his own hand in Hermanus this week draws a line of sorts under the Steinhoff accounting scandal, among the most egregious cases of white-collar crime in South African history. Just days before his apparent suicide, Jooste and associates were slapped with a R475m fine by market regulator the Financial Sector Conduct Authority. In a later statement, the authority indicated it may still go after the money by claiming it from Jooste’s estate.

Jooste must have felt that his days as a free man were numbered, a conclusion that differed radically from the conventional wisdom that the fallen furniture retail king was “getting away with it”. Unfavourable comparisons have been made with the parallel investigation launched in Germany, where Jooste’s crooked accounting practices first came to light in late 2017. He was said to be facing possible extradition to Germany, with a trial date already set. Though the sprawling empire that Jooste had created quickly fell apart, Jooste himself seemed untouchable.

The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), already reeling under a wave of bad publicity after its high-profile state-capture cases were thrown out of court, was exposed as a toothless tiger. Jooste himself could be seen going about his business, attending rugby matches and seeming to be unmoved by the findings of a scathing PwC report that put him at the centre of a vast conspiracy to hoodwink investors, among them state employees invested in Steinhoff through the Government Employees Pension Fund.

He became the poster boy for white-collar impunity, his freedom seemingly confirming the widely held belief that in South Africa you can be jailed for stealing a loaf of bread but let off scot-free when millions are involved. The hollowing-out of the NPA during the state capture years under former president Jacob Zuma helped feed the perception (and the reality) that white-collar crime pays and that its perpetrators could expect not to spend a single night in prison.

The disbanding of the Scorpions under Zuma, supported by ANC delegates at the party’s 2007 Polokwane conference, further added to the sense that South Africa was becoming a free-for-all for corporate and political plunderers. Since the collapse of Steinhoff, several other high-profile incidents of malfeasance in the boardrooms have come to light, notably the Tongaat Hulett, EOH and VBS Mutual Bank scandals. Though money has been recovered, and in some cases charges laid, none of these cases has come to court and resulted in a conviction.

However, in late 2022, the Reserve Bank launched a court application to freeze Jooste’s assets, among them his Hermanus mansion, his racehorses, his Lanzerac wine estate and valuable works of art. The move was welcomed by, among others, the former chair of Steinhoff, Christo Wiese, as proof that at long last the law was moving against Jooste.

The raid this week on the Johannesburg home of National Assembly speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula also speaks of a new energy to catch the allegedly crooked, regardless of how much they might think they enjoy political protection. South Africa is battling to have its name removed from the Financial Sector Task Force grey list, on which we have found ourselves partly due to a finding that the country is unable or unwilling to prosecute suspects in complex financial crimes. There are signs that this is changing, the huge fine slapped on Jooste being one of them.

In the public sphere, the Investigative Directorate, set up by presidential proclamation in March 2019 to investigate crimes related to state capture, has now been made a permanent unit in the NPA. It has recovered billions and was central to the investigation into Mapisa-Nqakula’s business affairs. Moreover, the private sector has repeatedly offered its assistance in helping to root out white-collar crime.

White-collar crime is not “victimless”, as some may have us believe. In fact, it leaves us all the poorer, whether it’s investments that have been eroded in value or valuable state resources that are being plundered for personal gain. Ironically, while Jooste’s later life was proof-positive that he was untouchable, his death strongly suggests that he knew he wouldn’t get away with it. As such, his passing should serve as a warning that upholding the law, while slow and cumbersome, is indeed considered to have a place in our democracy.

He became the poster boy for white-collar impunity