Jooste said in his testimony that Steinhoff probably grew too quickly.
In April, the retailer agreed to sell a 50 percent stake in German furniture chain POCO to Seifert, settling a German lawsuit over ownership of the business.
Seifert claimed half-ownership of POCO, while Steinhoff had said he had to be bought out due to unspecified actions by his company, Seifert Enterprises.
(Reporting by Tiisetso Motsoeneng; writing by James Macharia; editing by Jason Neely)