Parliamentary committees call for accountability in Steinhoff crisis

Scopa chairperson Themba Godi says the corruption at Steinhoff reveals the ''immoral conduct among South Africa’s elite'', which sees members of the Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF) possibly losing an estimated R12.5-billion in investments.

Godi says he would like to see government institute investigations with harsh repercussions against the international retail giant.

''I would like to see the Standing Committee on Finance and Scopa take up the matter and seeking accountability from Steinhoff and the Public Investment Corporation (PIC).

''I would like to see the National Treasury be more strident in its condemnation of the scandal than it has been thus far, the South African Revenue Service (SARS), the South African Reserve Bank (SARB), the Independent Regulatory Body for Auditors and the Financial Services Board (FSB) must urgently investigate.

''I can also confirm that I've written a letter to General [Yolisa] Matakata of the Hawks, indicating that we expect her to thoroughly investigate this matter, without fear, favour and prejudice to demonstrate that corruption whether done by the rich or the poor cannot be tolerated.”

Godi believes part of parliament's shortcomings has been its inability to hold private sector officials accountable. 

''Where ethical conduct and the laws of the country have been breached, irrespective of whether it is in the public or private sector, I believe that a people's parliament must be the one in the forefront to raise against this kind of misdemeanour.”

Meanwhile, Portfolio Committee on Public Service and Administration chairperson Cassel Mathale says the loss of government employee pension funds invested in Steinhoff cannot simply be attributed to the volatility of the markets.

''We can't just assume that the loss of pension funds is because of market volatility, we must understand what happened to the money the PIC invested in Steinhoff and why was it exposed to the extent that in was in the accounting irregularity Steinhoff is embroiled in.''

Mathale's committee also made similar demands as Scopa, calling for through investigations into the company's fraud allegations.

''We call upon all regulatory authorities and the criminal justice system to investigate this matter and come up with truthful facts behind the matter.”

Steinhoff has lost more than 84% of its market value in the three days since the company started a probe into accounting irregularities and chief executive officer Markus Jooste resigned.

Shares in the group tumbled for five consecutive days last week before recovering slightly in trade on Monday up 37.83% to R8.27.