How can a small club of extremely rich white men who have bullied markets, governments and competitors in the most undemocratic ways, now be looked upon to decree on democracy and accountability merely by the size of their bank balances and trust funds? This perhaps is the most insidious form of state capture.

Gates, who is worth $80 billion, specialises in top-down technicist quick-fixes, which often backfire on the economic shooting range of extreme corporate influence and neoliberal policies. On Sunday, Gates will get even richer, in terms of the moral legitimacy bestowed by the Mandela Lecture.