Financial writer James-Brent Styan will visit Port Elizabeth next Monday, September 17, to discuss his book Steinhoff: Inside SA’s Biggest Corporate Crash.
Fogarty’s Bookshop has invited Styan to speak at the GFI Art Gallery about his insights into the financial scandal that broke late last year.
On 5 December 2017 the Steinhoff group was still worth R199-billion, but 24 hours later more than R160-billion of this fortune was wiped out. The Steinhoff Empire, which took 20 years to build into an international business giant, had crumbled overnight.
Steinhoff’s flashy CEO Markus Jooste resigned via SMS and has since been fleeing an avalanche of accusations such as luxury homes for a blonde mistress, allegations of fraud, racehorses and unparalleled extravagance including a lavish, black Jag for a university residence.
Last week Jooste faced a grilling by the finance parliamentary committee in Cape Town on the crash.
The book tries to answer this kind of question along with others such as who knew what, what is Steinhoff, who is Markus Jooste and what does it all have to do with the so- called Stellenbosch mafia? Where does business tycoon Christo Wiese, Shoprite and Pepkor fit in and where is the pensioners’ money?
Styan unpacks these in a tale of power, greed and deceit in what could be the biggest financial breakdown in the history of South Africa.
To collect material for the book, Styan interviewed several sources, studied confidential documents and researched Steinhoff’s history.
Steinhoff: Inside SA's Biggest Corporate Crash, is published by Lapa and the book launch is at 5.30 for 6pm at the gallery in Park Drive.
RSVP to: 041-368-1425, 084-497-9774 or email fogartys@global.co.za