If you, as I, were largely unaware of Markus Jooste’s hobbies, then it might interest you to know that he is really into horse racing.

Like, massive.

Not only does he breed horses, but he is a “racing fanatic”.

Shame, because now a South African labour group has asked the organisers of a Cape Town horse race to refuse entry to any of Jooste’s horses, reports Fin24.

This comes after Jooste resigned as CEO of Steinhoff last week amidst the multinational company’s accounting scandal. Read all about that here.

After discovering more than a few irregularities, Steinhoff’s share price crashed 85% since and, as a consequence, has “wiped billions of rand off the value of the pension funds of state workers”.

And so the Public Servants Association, which manages South African government-worker pension funds and is the second-biggest shareholder in Steinhoff with a 10% stake, wants revenge:

Jooste, 56, shouldn’t be able to enter January’s Sun Met race, which is among upcoming races which could earn him as much as R5m in prize money, the group said in a statement on Friday.

“The PSA, as custodian of public servants’ pensions, cannot allow Jooste to continue making millions until an investigation into the irregularities has been completed,” the union said.

Kind of makes you hate him all that much more.

First his Hermanus house, then his Wikipedia, now his horse racing? Cannot wait to see what’s next to be taken from him.

[source:fin24]