The South African Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU) welcomes the arrest of two former Steinhoff executives, Hein Odendaal and Peter Schelbert. The two handed themselves over to the Hawks’ Serious Commercial Crimes Investigation Unit on 14 February, 2025 and were later granted bail of R150,000 each after being charged.
Their arrest follows that of Ben la Grange, Steinhoff International’s former chief financial officer, who was taken into custody in June 2024. La Grange pleaded guilty to fraud related to a fake invoice worth R376 million and entered a plea agreement with the state. His arrest came nearly three months after Markus Jooste allegedly took his own life, escaping accountability for one of South Africa’s biggest corporate fraud scandals.
These latest arrests coincide with a major legal breakthrough by the South African Reserve Bank (SARB), which recently won the right to access data copied from Jooste’s electronic devices during a high-profile 2022 raid. That raid led to a two-year legal battle between SARB and Jooste’s legal team, which sought to limit access to the data under the guise of client-lawyer privilege. With the Western Cape High Court ruling on 5 February 2025, ordering the handover of all physical and electronic information seized on 7 October 2022, SARB is now positioned to investigate whether Jooste violated South Africa’s exchange control laws. Thiscase could see assets worth R1 billion confiscated.
Workers Paid the Price for Corporate Fraud
The Steinhoff scandal was not a victimless crime. It was a corporaterobbery that stole from workers, directly affecting their jobs, pensions, and economic security:
- The worker’s pension and provident funds were gutted. The Public Investment Corporation (PIC) had invested billions of public servants’ pension money in Steinhoff shares, which lost over 95% of their value overnight when the scandal broke in December 2017. This catastrophic collapse eroded the retirement savings of teachers, nurses, police officers, and other public-sector workers, leaving them with diminished financial security.
- Thousands of workers lost their jobs. As the company collapsed, Steinhoff subsidiaries were forced to cut jobs and shut down operations to stay afloat. Workers in retail, logistics, furniture manufacturing, and property sectors faced retrenchments and wage freezes, directly caused by the reckless fraud of the Steinhoff executives.
- Wage increases were frozen – Many Steinhoff-linked companies, such as Pepkor (Pep, Ackermans, and JD Group), Shoprite, and Tekkie Town, claimed financial distress after the scandal and delayed or reduced workers’ wage adjustments in the years that followed. Workers paid the price. At the same time, executives enriched themselves through fraudulent accounting.
- Economic instability affected working-class communities. The Steinhoff collapse shook the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) and wiped out billions in investments in pension funds, municipal savings, and union investment portfolios. Many working-class families that relied on these funds for housing, education, and healthcare suffered long-term setbacks.
A Statement was issued on behalf of SAFTU by General Secretary Zwelinzima Vavi.
For more details, contact the National Spokesperson at:
Newton Masuku
066 168 2157
Newtonm@saftu.org.za
