Rational Perspective

For nine days at the end of January, on a live televised broadcast of South Africa's Commission of Inquiry into State Capture, Angelo Agrizzi unburdened himself of 19 years of nefarious deeds. His testimony had the nation riveted. Here was a self-admitted criminal kingpin providing the proof, naming the names of those who had been robbing the state in broad daylight. Each day he delivered yet more names from a little black book where the bribes, and those who received them, had been meticulously recorded. Agrizzi carried the title of chief operating officer of Bosasa, a company whose business model was the bribing of state officials to guarantee it was awarded massively inflated government contracts. Over the years Agrizzi estimated that he paid over R432m to Bosasa's crooked associates, with the volume of cash required to feed the corrupt network eventually reaching R6m a month. Getting his hands on so many notes forced Agrizzi to strike deals with cash generative operations like Jumbo Liquor wholesalers who