Ten years and 500 billion stolen rands later, you’d forgive South Africans for being jumpy about government wastage and you’d understand why opportunist politicians are using that anxiety to their advantage. Still, I can’t help feeling that some of the maths isn’t adding up.

Take, for example, Julius Malema’s concern, reiterated last week, that the Zondo commission is costing too much. With a price tag of more than R350m and counting, Malema says, the commission “has become very expensive” and “cheaper ways of arriving at the same conclusion” should be investigated...