Steinheist director, Richard Finn Gregory, tells the OFM Business Hour that the documentary seeks to unpack the motivations of these central figures, like Steinhoff’s former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Markus Jooste. This is in an effort to spur law enforcement agencies to take more action against white-collar crime in South Africa.

Steinhoff International lost about R200 billion in market value owing to what has been deemed the country’s worst accounting scandals. The Steinhoff crash impacted the lives of ordinary South Africans whose pensions were invested in the group via the Public Investment Corporation (PIC). 

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Gregory, who was approached by Idea Candy – the producers behind Devilsdorp – to direct the project, reveals that they got Financial Mail editor Rob Rose on board as a narrator, weaving parts of the story together. Rose, who also conducted some of the interviews on the doccie, penned Steinheist: Markus Jooste, Steinhoff and SA’s biggest corporate fraud which was used by the doccie team as a base for their research.

Gregory says what surprised him most in the making of the project was how highly people spoke of Markus Jooste in his earlier days, with some seeing him as the "homeboy who made it". There has since been a “fall of grace of sorts” with many of his friends and acquaintances refusing to defend him publicly when approached by the producing team.

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When the docuseries becomes available for streaming on Thursday 22 September 2022, Gregory anticipates that it is more of the general public that will be edified on the subject matter and left with their jaws dropping with respect to the “audacity of Steinheist”. He says astute investors on the other hand have been following the matter for some time, with some proclaiming that they saw the crash coming. 

OFM News