Cosatu urges government to boost NPA funding after third Steinhoff conviction

Cosatu has called for better funding of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) and the judiciary in the pending 2026/27 budget to address the massive backlog of serious commercial crimes. This follows the conviction of former Steinhoff At Work executive Iwan Peter Schelbert, who was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment for his role in a R376 million fraud case.

Cosatu Parliamentary Coordinator Matthew Parks said on Friday that Schelbert’s sentencing was welcome but amounted to cold comfort, as key perpetrators in the more than R24 billion scandal had escaped justice due to delays. He criticised the NPA for offering, over the past eight years, “meaningless platitudes to the public that it is busy building a case to ensure justice for the victims of Steinhoff, with few convictions to show for their losses and pain”.

“This is a welcome and long-overdue victory, albeit tardy and minimal, for workers and pensioners who saw R24 billion in pension and other funds lost in the Steinhoff heist, one of the most notorious in South African history. While appreciating this victory, Cosatu is deeply disappointed that it has taken the NPA eight years to secure this conviction,” Parks said.

This comes as Schelbert, who entered into a plea agreement and will act as a state witness in the continuing case against former colleagues Hein Odendaal and Stephanus Johannes Grobler, which is set for early February, was on Friday handed a five-year direct imprisonment sentence.

According to the NPA, Schelbert, acting on instructions from the then chief financial officer, Benjamin la Grange, generated a fraudulent invoice to TG Sources SARL, a company based in Martigny, Switzerland. Following the generation of the invoice, Stephanus Johannes Grobler and others created supporting documentation and caused payments to be effected to falsely represent that the invoice reflected a legitimate transaction between Steinhoff At Work and TG Sources SARL. This fraudulent scheme resulted in the inflation of Steinhoff’s financial statements by more than R376 million.

NPA regional spokesperson in Gauteng Lumka Mahanjana said the conviction demonstrates the commitment of both institutions to holding perpetrators accountable in one of the largest and most complex corporate fraud cases in South Africa’s history.

“The NPA and the DPCI (Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation) welcome this conviction and sentence, which marks the third conviction secured in the Steinhoff matter. The investigation and prosecution of this matter required extensive collaboration and technical expertise due to its scale and complexity,” Mahanjana said.

Parks said workers had paid a further price for state capture and corruption with the country’s resulting greylisting.

“International investors and pension funds are extremely reluctant, and often prohibited, from investing in greylisted or sanctioned economies. This period of greylisting was a painful blow for a stagnant economy bleeding jobs and battling a 42.4% unemployment rate,” Parks said.

He added that Cosatu looks forward to Advocate Andy Mothibi taking over as NPA director next month, saying the entity desperately needs leadership with the passion, hunger for justice, and capacity to deliver.

“Society, in particular the working class, needs to see the tide turning in the war against crime and corruption,” Parks said.

Schelbert, once the managing director of Steinhoff At Work, was involved in approving the group’s financial statements, while Odendaal held senior roles in UK-based affiliates and oversaw financial statements at Steinhoff At Work and Steinhoff Africa Holdings.

Stephanus Grobler, a former Steinhoff executive director, turned himself in to the Hawks on March 22, 2024, just a day after former chief executive Markus Jooste died by suicide in Hermanus. Grobler faces charges of racketeering, fraud, financial statement manipulation, and failure to report fraud.

The scandal has already seen Steinhoff’s former chief financial officer, La Grange, sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment, with five years suspended.

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