State capture cost Guptas

Indian businessmen Ajay and Atul Gupta. Photo: Flickr/Damanpreet Singh

State capture ‘cost SA R500bn’: 10 things we could’ve bought with that money

The amount of schools, hospitals and pints we could have had for this money is enough to turn the stomach. Here’s the real cost of state capture.

State capture cost Guptas

Indian businessmen Ajay and Atul Gupta. Photo: Flickr/Damanpreet Singh

Cyril Ramaphosa is currently on a visit to the United Kingdom, taking a good look at the place before Brexit – in whichever form it’s delivered in – grips the country. With leaving the European Union high on Blighty’s agenda, the president may have thought he could slip one under the rug regarding the cost of state capture.

That has not proven to be the case. Although Ramaphosa told foreign investment interests that Mzansi has now “stemmed the bleeding” from state capture, he conceded that a whopping R500 billion ($34 billion) may have been stolen during Jacob Zuma’s nine-year tenure. That’s not bleeding. That’s the elevator doors opening up in The Shining.

How much has state capture cost South Africa?

That’s a heck of a lot of money. It’s just under half of what Zuma wanted to give the Russians in exchange for an ill-conceived nuclear power deal. So perhaps we should be… thankful? Well, that’s not going to be easy. Not when you consider we could have spent that humongous wad of cash on the following:

  • Over 5 000 new state-of-the-art schools.
  • Around 10 billion pints of imported, premium beer – that’s around 166 drinks each for every man, woman and child in South Africa.
  • Almost 20 000 health clinics, fully-staffed and equipped with modern technology.
  • Just under five billion kilograms of cheddar cheese.
  • Around 170 000 new Volkswagen Golf 1.4 litre engine (brand new).
  • 400 million pairs of new Nike trainers. Thanks state capture…
  • 33 billion litres of petrol.
  • 62.5 million return flights from Johannesburg to Dubai, so we could *all* replicate the Guptas’ escape from South Africa.
  • Speaking of Dubai… You could build 12 more exact replicas of the tallest building in the world, The Burj Khalifa.
  • You could wipe out Eskom’s entire debt (R420 billion) and use the remaining cost of R80 billion to buy the Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom, belonging to Queen Elizabeth and her family.

(All stats were provided by linked sources, Numbeo and Expatistan)

Guptas running out of places to hide

What a wonderful country this could be if we had any of the above. You laugh, but it’s the five billion kgs of cheese we’re wanting the most off that list. Their cost to this country should never be forgotten.

But could the Gupta brothers – so instrumental in orchestrating the state capture project – be the ones who pay the ultimate price? Attempts to bring the family and their business associates to justice have been rejuvenated this week, thanks to the USA’s decision to impose strict financial sanctions on the billionaires.

The net may be closing, but if anyone is slippery enough to escape a major international effort to arrest them, it’s these guys.