MARKUS Jooste’s farm near Stellenbosch has reportedly been sold to two well-known names in South African business, Netwerk24 reports.
In 2003, Jooste bought the large farm Jonkersdrift with two other executives, Danie van der Merwe and Frikkie Nel, for almost R26 million.
Netwerk24 quotes two sources who confirmed that Johan van Zyl and Willem Roos bought the farm.
Van Zyl is CEO of African Rainbow Capital, and former CEO of Sanlam. He was also a director of Steinhoff.
Roos, a former CEO and founder of Outsurance, is stepping down as Rain CEO at the end of this month
Van Zyl and Roos did not want to comment, their spokesperson said. But they are now the only two directors of the company called Stoney Meadows investments 11 which owns three of the four farms that Jooste bought with Van Der Merwe and Nel, Netwerk24 reports. The farms are collectively known as Jonkersdrift.
Jooste lived on Jonkersdrift since 2011, when he moved down to the Western Cape from Pretoria, according to the book Steinhoff: Inside SA’s biggest corporate crash, authored by James-Brent Styan.
Jooste, who still faces a number of lawsuits and a Hawks’ fraud and money laundering investigation, was found guilty of insider trading by the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) last year, and fined almost R161.6 million after he sent messages to four men in 2017, warning them to sell their shares in Steinhoff. He resigned a couple of days later, and Steinhoff went on to lose 90% of its value.
(SOURCE: Agencies)
