Steinheist
Made in South Africa
All five episodes of Steinheist are now streaming, investigating the events that led to former Steinhoff CEO Markus Jooste’s suicide in March 2024.
On 6 December 2017, after CEO Markus Jooste resigned amid an investigation into accounting irregularities, Steinhoff’s share price plunged by 90% in a week, wiping over R200 billion off Johannesburg’s stock exchange, the JSE – and off ordinary South Africans’ pensions and investments. It was the biggest corporate scandal in South African history.
Five years later, the first three episodes of Steinheist set a new Showmax record for the most first-day views of any documentary. They were met with rave reviews and a public outcry about why Jooste was still a free man.
Steinheist went on to become the most-nominated documentary going into the SAFTAs, with director Richard Gregory and producer Elle Oosthuizen named the Sanlam Group Financial Journalist of the Year for 2022 – the first TV journalists to win the prize in nearly a decade. The duo also won the Broadcast: TV and Video category award.
Now two new episodes pick up the story a month after the documentary’s 2022 release, when the Reserve Bank seized R1.4bn of Jooste’s assets. From his pursuit by German authorities to his record R475m fine from the Financial Sector Conduct Authority, to his police summons to stand trial, the new episodes trace how the net tightened around Jooste in the build-up to his suicide on a rocky beach in Hermanus on 21 March 2024.
Steinheist is made by multi-award-winning true crime pioneers IdeaCandy (Devilsdorp, Tracking Thabo Bester, Rosemary’s Hitlist, School Ties).
All five episodes of Steinheist are now streaming.
More from South Africa
Binnelanders S8-14
Binnelanders, an Afrikaans soapie set in and around a fictional private hospital, follows the trials and trauma of the staff and patients.
Made in South Africa
Showmax announces The Mommy Club: Van die Hoofstad reunion
Leandie du Randt is set to host The Mommy Club: Van die Hoofstad reunion, premiering on Showmax in two parts on 27 June and 4 July 2025.
South African
Summertide S1
An exhilarating South African multi-generational drama following the Field family and those who cross their paths – each with their own secrets and desires.
Made in South Africa
Where to see the cast of Niggies in other roles on Showmax
From Beer Adriaanse as older André Fourie to Erica Wessels as Ousus Nel and Albert Pretorius as Gustaff Fouché, see the cast of kykNET’s hit drama series Niggies in their other acclaimed roles on Showmax.
South African
Die Tragiese Saak van Pamina Vermaak (2022)
An unemployed journalist ends up back in her small West Coast hometown, where she meets a floundering rock star.
Made in South Africa
Juffrou X S1
The final exams are just one of the challenges facing the pupils of a rural school. Poverty, crime and drugs stand between them and graduation.
Made in South AfricaThe Mommy Club: Van Die Hoofstad breaks Showmax record
The Mommy Club: Van Die Hoofstad is now the most-watched Afrikaans show on Showmax since its relaunch. Cast member Johandri Johnson tells us why it’s so popular.
South African
Hans Steek die Rubicon Oor: Growing old disgracefully
In Hans Steek die Rubicon Oor, Pierre van Pletzen transforms a retirement home from a funeral parlour’s waiting room into a prison riot! And if you love a white-haired rebel, we have 10 more stories for you to stream.
Made in South AfricaThe truth is stranger than fiction: Documentaries to stream
1000% Me: Growing Up Mixed (2023)
Emmy-winning filmmaker and comedian W Kamau Bell tackles the joys and challenges of growing up mixed-race through conversations with kids and families, including his own.
Striking with Pride
See how striking miners in South Wales and gay activists in London came to form an unlikely alliance during the mid-1980s.
100 Foot Wave S1-3
This Emmy-winning docuseries follows big-wave pioneer Garrett McNamara’s decade-long odyssey chasing a massive wave in a small fishing village in Portugal.
Wild Wild Space (2024)
A high-stakes HBO doccie that chronicles the modern-day, celestial land grab – a fast-paced, high-stakes race of epic proportions in which companies compete to blast satellite-carrying rockets into low Earth orbit.
Wild Wild Space and 10 more titles to join your space race
We have liftoff! As new HBO documentary Wild Wild Space takes us into low orbit, mission control has 10 more titles ready for space junkies, from Apollo 13 to Interstellar.
Eye-opening homegrown documentaries to stream
These unmissable South African shows and movies deliver surprising insights on the country we’re living in today.
Made in South Africa
Anatomy of Lies: Women who con
Grey’s Anatomy’s most shocking medical case took place behind the scenes. Find out how co-executive producer and writer Elisabeth Finch faked cancer and personal tragedy, and meet five more of the world’s most questionable con women.
Anatomy of Lies S1
This riveting doccie series reveals the rise and fall of Grey’s Anatomy star writer Elisabeth Finch, whose jaw-dropping lies fooled Hollywood for years.
Crime dramas, in case the truth is too much
10 top cop shows for Donut Day
From Brooklyn Nine-Nine to Drift, we’ve hand-picked 10 silly-to-serious police series from our lineup that you can take into custody, starting on Official Donut Day, Friday, 6 June.
Grosse Pointe Garden Society S1
Four members of a garden club get entangled in a scandalous murder, and are forced to bury the body in their own flower beds in this crime drama.
Frank Grillo takes on the Tulsa King
Frank Grillo and Sylvester Stallone go head to head as rival mob bosses in Tulsa King Season 2. And we rate 9 more Frank Grillo roles, from Boss Level to Billions.
Anatomy of Lies: Women who con
Grey’s Anatomy’s most shocking medical case took place behind the scenes. Find out how co-executive producer and writer Elisabeth Finch faked cancer and personal tragedy, and meet five more of the world’s most questionable con women.
Accused S2
An engrossing anthology courtroom drama based on the acclaimed BBC crime series. Each episode follows a new defendant as they await their verdict, while flashbacks reveal how they ended up in court.
Reyka’s Speelman and five killers who love playing games
Criminal profiler Reyka is back playing strategy games with her childhood captor Angus Speelman in Reyka Season 2. We look back on his slimiest moments from Season 1, and check out five movie killers who love toying with their prey.
Made in South Africa
Your Plan B Afrikaans crime watch
Arnold Vosloo is here to demonstrate the art to planning the perfect heist – after he spots a cozy little Vermeer – in the series Plan B. And if you’re on a crime watch, we have 10 more Afrikaans series to try.
Made in South Africa
Big mobs, small jobs: 10 crime series to stream on Showmax
Not everybody can be the Godfather. From The Cleaning Lady to Gangs of London, we look at 10 small but essential jobs that take care of the organising behind organised crime.
The best shows to binge now
Hacks S1-4
Emmy winner Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder make an odd partnership in the acclaimed HBO dramedy Hacks, about a legendary Vegas comedian and her new writer.
100 Foot Wave S1-3
This Emmy-winning docuseries follows big-wave pioneer Garrett McNamara’s decade-long odyssey chasing a massive wave in a small fishing village in Portugal.
Binnelanders S8-14
Binnelanders, an Afrikaans soapie set in and around a fictional private hospital, follows the trials and trauma of the staff and patients.
Made in South AfricaWild Wild Space (2024)
A high-stakes HBO doccie that chronicles the modern-day, celestial land grab – a fast-paced, high-stakes race of epic proportions in which companies compete to blast satellite-carrying rockets into low Earth orbit.