Steinheist': Doccie dives into biggest corporate scam in SA history'

Steinheist': Doccie dives into biggest corporate scam in SA history'Showmax's original Steinheist' explores the biggest corporate scam in South African history. Here's what we know

by Alicia Naidoo

23-09-2022 13:20

in Entertainment

Steinheist' explores the biggest corporate scam in SA history. Image: Supplied.

Steinheist, a new true crime documentary series about the biggest corporate scam in South African history, is now streaming on Showmax, with new episodes every Thursday until 6 October.

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NEW TRUE CRIME DOCCIE STEINHEIST' Steinheist is made by Idea Candy, the producers of Devilsdorp. The record-breaking Showmax Original that won Best Made for TV Documentary at the 2022 South African Film and Television Awards (SAFTAs).

Once billed as the Ikea of Africa, - Steinhoff employed over 130 000 people on over 40 brands across four continents. Steinhoff-owned companies every South African will know include giants like Ackermans, Incredible Connection, Morkels, Pennypinchers, PEP, Russells, Tekkie Town, and Timbercity.

On 5 December 2017, CEO Markus Jooste resigned amid an investigation into accounting irregularities, and Steinhoff's share price plunged by 90% in a week. This wiped over R200 billion off Johannesburg's stock exchange, the JSE and off ordinary South Africans' pensions and investments.

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As News24's assistant editor, Pieter du Toit, author of The Stellenbosch Mafia, says in the first episode, You don't think that a company of that size and that repute can crash so quickly.

The documentary has been receiving raving reviews.

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WATCH THE TRAILER HERE

THE RELEASE OF STEINHEIST' COMES AFTER THE JSE DISQUALIFIED BEN LA GRANGE Steinheist releases on Showmax just over a month after the JSE disqualified Ben la Grange from holding the office of a director or officer of a listed company for 10 years, imposing two separate fines of R1 million each on the man who was Jooste's chief financial officer at Steinhoff.

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The JSE claimed la Grange had processed a fictitious handwritten invoice handed to him by Jooste for R376 million ( 23.5 million).

Government corruption has been widely publicised in South Africa. As well as explored in the likes of the Rehad Desai and Mark Kaplan's SAFTA-winning How To Steal A Country documentary, also on Showmax. Steinheist changes the focus onto the impact of corruption in the private sector.

I think the media tends to focus on holding politicians to account, but very few people hold corporations to account, said Financial Mail editor Rob Rose in the first episode.

A lot of corporate leaders do things that are completely outrageous. But because so few people study it and understand it, they get away with a lot that politicians don't get away with. So I've always been drawn to the stories of people like Markus Jooste. For a journalist, this was the story of a lifetime.

So what kind of person can pull off what Gregory calls a hundred-billion-rand lie that everyone bought a lie that was built across over two decades ? All the answers are revealed in the documentary!

Steinheist' explores the biggest corporate scam in SA history. Image: Supplied. ALSO READ: Binge worthy: Five SAFTA-winning shows to stream on Showmax

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LINK:	https://www.thesouthafrican.com/culture/entertainment/steinheist-docum...
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