R178 billion is a huge sum of money, unfathomable to most.
It's enough money, for example, to fully vaccinate the entire South African population with Covid-19 shots roughly 20 times over.
Instead, R178 160 990 959.84, is the exact value of dodgy "red-flagged" tenders awarded by South Africa's power utility Eskom over the past decade to companies, including multinational conglomerates, that are tainted by corruption or misconduct.
This according to an investigation by News24 based on the Eskom Files: a leaked trove of documents including thousands of pages of letters, forensic reports, emails, bank statements and payment analysis.
The value of the alleged dodgy contracts equates to almost half of Eskom's debt of approximately R411 billion.
What else could this money have been used for, you ask?
News24 takes a look.
- The Eskom Files is brought to you by News24 in partnership with Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime.
Do you have more Eskom beans to spill? Send an email to tips@24.com.
Make sure you don't miss out. Sign up for The Eskom Files newsletter to receive updates with the latest information.