More than two years after Markus Jooste’s reported death at Kwaaiwater in Hermanus, basic public questions remain unanswered. That vacuum has fuelled one of South Africa’s most persistent conspiracy theories around the former Steinhoff boss, who was widely seen as the central figure in one of the country’s biggest corporate fraud scandals.

Jooste was reported to have died on 21 March 2024 after suffering a gunshot wound to the head on a cliff path near Kwaaiwater Beach. Emergency responders found him alive and took him to a private hospital, where he later died. The timing stunned the country: he had been due to hand himself over to authorities the next day, just after the Financial Sector Conduct Authority imposed a R475 million administrative penalty on him.

Silence created room for speculation

The trouble is not only how Jooste died, but how little has been publicly settled since. There was no public funeral, no confirmed burial site, no released post-mortem and no publicly announced inquest date. In a case this politically and financially charged, that silence has done real damage to public trust.

That distrust has fed a flood of social media claims that Jooste was seen in Europe or South America under another identity. None of those claims has been verified, and there is no evidence placing him outside South Africa after his reported death. But the rumours have gained traction precisely because official transparency has been so limited.

Police confirm steps taken, but key details stay hidden

South African Police Service spokesperson Colonel André Traut has now said all applicable investigative steps were followed. Police confirmed that a post-mortem was done on 22 March 2024, that ballistic testing was conducted, that the deceased was formally identified and that statements from relevant people were included in the docket. SAPS also said the docket went to the National Prosecuting Authority and has since been referred to court for an inquest hearing.

But those answers still leave major gaps. Police did not release the post-mortem, did not say when the inquest will happen and did not indicate whether the forensic findings will be made public before court proceedings. Until that happens, the public is still being asked to rely largely on official assurances.

Why this matters beyond one man

This case reaches far beyond public curiosity. Jooste’s death effectively ended the possibility that the man accused of leading the Steinhoff fraud would answer in court. Pensioners, investors and ordinary South Africans who suffered huge losses never got that reckoning.

At the same time, the South African Reserve Bank says investigations tied to exchange control violations continue beyond Jooste himself, with asset recovery efforts still under way against multiple people and entities.

Until the inquest is held openly and critical questions are answered on the record, the ghost of Kwaaiwater will keep hovering over one of South Africa’s most explosive unfinished scandals.