Let’s set the scene, it’s the end of the week in which most South Africans have been working hard for their living, at least those who still have jobs.
While many count the hours until Friday is over and they can finally open that beer or Savanna they deserve, one South African sits down at a commission.
She enters the room in what could only be a designer power suit and prepares to give evidence against her estranged husband.
While giving evidence she gives South Africans a peek into her life and then with just a few words, insults a vast majority of people.
“In my life, there is nothing I can do with R3 000", these were the words Norma Mngoma uttered.
In a country that has an unemployment rate of 28.48% as of 2020 and where the minimum wage is RR21.69 per hour.
The estranged wife of former Cabinet minister Malusi Gigaba had tongues wagging on social media following the resumption of her testimony to the Zondo commission.
Mngoma has been delivering explosive testimonies at the judicial commission of inquiry into state capture.
When asked questions posed by evidence leader Anton Myburgh about a credit card given to her by her estranged husband which was said to have a limit of R3 000, Mngoma said that while Gigaba took care of her when they first started dating, she has always looked after herself with her own money.
Following her emphasising how R3 000 does nothing in her life, she reached the top of the trends list with many asking if she understood the daily realities of regular South Africans.
While the Covid-19 pandemic has crippled South Africa’s economy, citizens have long lived salary to salary.
All while politicians and their families benefit.
So if Mngoma, who has flaunted her designer bags like a Louis Vuitton Cannes bag that cost R35 000, at the commission, can do nothing in her life with R3 000, it begs the question, how much are her monthly expenses?
While R3 000 might be nothing to her, to millions of citizens it is all they earn in a month if not less.
So what can you do with R3 000?
Here’s what: You can rent a one bedroom flat in Durban central for R2 270 and R3 000 gets you a one bedroom apartment in West Turffontein in Joburg.
R3 000 can get you a trolley full of groceries which will include staples like milk, rice, sugar and oil.
If you want to spoil yourself, R3 000 can get you four eat out dinners with drinks at Tasha’s, Lupa or even Mugg & Bean.
R3 000 can also get you a doctors consultation with medicine and if you buy immune booster vitamins for you and a family member, you walk away with change.
The average South African could even treat themselves to a staycation with R3 000.
So while R3 000 can do “nothing” for Mngoma, in a country where millions of people applied and queued for a R350 Covid-19 grant, the realities faced by ordinary citizens continue to be a glaring difference to that of the rich.