Ethical Political Leadership: Our Right
By Nontando (Guwa) Ngamlana
Arguably, ethics are a function of cultural relativism. It is important to understand that what one culture considers ethical, another may not. There is no one set of universal behaviours considered ethical by all cultures. Although the terms moral and ethical are often used interchangeably, we should seek to develop a general theory of ethical leadership in South Africa. It is, however, also true that there are certain ethical principles that hold across cultures and quite often certain patterns of behaviour would most likely raise eyebrows in the majority of societies.
Leaders are subject to both virtue and vice. Good leaders lean more heavily on the former while incorrigibly corrupted ones hop from one vice to the other. For instance, prominent leaders have been known to misinform their followers or make false claims to justify their actions in the vain comfort offered by the view that the end justifies the means.
A Culture of Lying
Lying, which one can reasonably assert is unethical, is the standard operating procedure often practised by many political and business leaders. It is common knowledge in South Africa and the world over that politicians lie. This has unfortunately been accepted by many citizens and is being imitated by young people who aspire for political leadership.
It is generally difficult to believe everything a politician utters. For example, a former top politician denied he was friends with Jacky Selebi, the former national police commissioner who was suspended for corruption. But the said politician’s friendship with a drug lord, Glen Agliotti was exposed by the National Prosecutor who dramatically reported that the two had been buying expensive shoes for each other. It turned out that less than noble favours had been flying around right under our noses.
A Poor Example
Unethical behaviour is only one of many tools political leaders use to accomplish their goals. We have seen many examples in South Africa to prove this. The sad reality is that it is done in public by people who are considered role models for emerging youthful leaders. The truth of the matter is that what happens in parliament and at national government level filters through to the provinces, and then through to the local municipal level, which in turn is copied by community leaders and members.
South Africans experienced shameful acts of intolerance during the immediate past national election campaigns. The hostile and violent behaviour among political parties, the intolerance of opposing views and the animosity particularly between the ANC and other political formations is now manifesting amongst the institutions of higher learning. Skirmishes in certain universities over elections of student representatives have in the past led to unfortunate loss of life and destruction of property – all courtesy of intolerance of political differences.
Ward Committees, which by law are meant to be developmental and not political, have held a series of by-elections this year in March and this was authorised by the relevant Municipal Councils because some of the members had allegedly joined opposition parties, and this disqualified them from serving in the ward committee structures regardless of the fact that some of these members were representing non-political interest groups within the ward structure to begin with. Anyone can see the injustice of such actions and the arrogant determination to use party dominance to oppress and exclude others.
Unethical Actions Exposed
The unwritten rule that ‘it is ethical until you get caught’ seems to be a popular view when it comes to assessing whether behaviour is unethical or not. Civil society organisations working towards instilling ethical leadership argue that the worst job to give to anyone is to ask them to teach people what not to do. ‘Ethical’ in front of ‘leadership’ is today seen as imposing constraints on the leader.
One just needs to look at the track-record of our ruling party to see the kind of leadership we have in our country. You only have to admire the ANC for sticking up for what it really believes in. In any other society one might think that befriending a man who is a serial liar and a convicted fraudster would be politically career-limiting, but this was definitely not the case when the ANC top-dogs accompanied Tony Yengeni—in song and dance—to prison.
The list of unethical leadership is endless. Carl Niehaus was appointed by the ANC despite admitting to fraud. Even a convicted fraudster like Shabir Shaik can count on friends in the highest political offices and quite clearly, a litany of criminal activities may not necessarily be a hindrance to one’s political ascendancy. Yes, even peddling lies in order to secure votes is not a problem at all. Many communities in the rural areas have had countless promises made to them in the past fifteen years, but they are still waiting for them to be implemented.
Immoral Society
South Africa is fast becoming a hub of unethical behaviour, since it encourages and cheerfully supports unethical leadership. Our country has become a shopping stop for child trafficking in Africa and a half-way house for drugs. Money laundering is common and violent crime levels have risen. But why is all of this happening in our land? Because South Africans are not defining what ethical leadership means to them, and they are not demanding to see it being practiced at all levels of government. We need to move away from defining ethical leadership in a narrow, abstract sense, begin to monitor leadership and generate consensus and political will to demand that all leadership adheres to a set of ethical criteria that define our collective disdain for roguish leadership.
References:
• David Bullard; Sunday Times, September 2006
• Herb Rubenstein; Ethical Leadership, 2005
• Andre Surgens, Sunday Times, August 2006
• Mail & Guardian, 4 May 2009
Arguably, ethics are a function of cultural relativism. It is important to understand that what one culture considers ethical, another may not. There is no one set of universal behaviours considered ethical by all cultures. Although the terms moral and ethical are often used interchangeably, we should seek to develop a general theory of ethical leadership in South Africa. It is, however, also true that there are certain ethical principles that hold across cultures and quite often certain patterns of behaviour would most likely raise eyebrows in the majority of societies.
Leaders are subject to both virtue and vice. Good leaders lean more heavily on the former while incorrigibly corrupted ones hop from one vice to the other. For instance, prominent leaders have been known to misinform their followers or make false claims to justify their actions in the vain comfort offered by the view that the end justifies the means.
A Culture of Lying
Lying, which one can reasonably assert is unethical, is the standard operating procedure often practised by many political and business leaders. It is common knowledge in South Africa and the world over that politicians lie. This has unfortunately been accepted by many citizens and is being imitated by young people who aspire for political leadership.
It is generally difficult to believe everything a politician utters. For example, a former top politician denied he was friends with Jacky Selebi, the former national police commissioner who was suspended for corruption. But the said politician’s friendship with a drug lord, Glen Agliotti was exposed by the National Prosecutor who dramatically reported that the two had been buying expensive shoes for each other. It turned out that less than noble favours had been flying around right under our noses.
A Poor Example
Unethical behaviour is only one of many tools political leaders use to accomplish their goals. We have seen many examples in South Africa to prove this. The sad reality is that it is done in public by people who are considered role models for emerging youthful leaders. The truth of the matter is that what happens in parliament and at national government level filters through to the provinces, and then through to the local municipal level, which in turn is copied by community leaders and members.
South Africans experienced shameful acts of intolerance during the immediate past national election campaigns. The hostile and violent behaviour among political parties, the intolerance of opposing views and the animosity particularly between the ANC and other political formations is now manifesting amongst the institutions of higher learning. Skirmishes in certain universities over elections of student representatives have in the past led to unfortunate loss of life and destruction of property – all courtesy of intolerance of political differences.
Ward Committees, which by law are meant to be developmental and not political, have held a series of by-elections this year in March and this was authorised by the relevant Municipal Councils because some of the members had allegedly joined opposition parties, and this disqualified them from serving in the ward committee structures regardless of the fact that some of these members were representing non-political interest groups within the ward structure to begin with. Anyone can see the injustice of such actions and the arrogant determination to use party dominance to oppress and exclude others.
Unethical Actions Exposed
The unwritten rule that ‘it is ethical until you get caught’ seems to be a popular view when it comes to assessing whether behaviour is unethical or not. Civil society organisations working towards instilling ethical leadership argue that the worst job to give to anyone is to ask them to teach people what not to do. ‘Ethical’ in front of ‘leadership’ is today seen as imposing constraints on the leader.
One just needs to look at the track-record of our ruling party to see the kind of leadership we have in our country. You only have to admire the ANC for sticking up for what it really believes in. In any other society one might think that befriending a man who is a serial liar and a convicted fraudster would be politically career-limiting, but this was definitely not the case when the ANC top-dogs accompanied Tony Yengeni—in song and dance—to prison.
The list of unethical leadership is endless. Carl Niehaus was appointed by the ANC despite admitting to fraud. Even a convicted fraudster like Shabir Shaik can count on friends in the highest political offices and quite clearly, a litany of criminal activities may not necessarily be a hindrance to one’s political ascendancy. Yes, even peddling lies in order to secure votes is not a problem at all. Many communities in the rural areas have had countless promises made to them in the past fifteen years, but they are still waiting for them to be implemented.
Immoral Society
South Africa is fast becoming a hub of unethical behaviour, since it encourages and cheerfully supports unethical leadership. Our country has become a shopping stop for child trafficking in Africa and a half-way house for drugs. Money laundering is common and violent crime levels have risen. But why is all of this happening in our land? Because South Africans are not defining what ethical leadership means to them, and they are not demanding to see it being practiced at all levels of government. We need to move away from defining ethical leadership in a narrow, abstract sense, begin to monitor leadership and generate consensus and political will to demand that all leadership adheres to a set of ethical criteria that define our collective disdain for roguish leadership.
References:
• David Bullard; Sunday Times, September 2006
• Herb Rubenstein; Ethical Leadership, 2005
• Andre Surgens, Sunday Times, August 2006
• Mail & Guardian, 4 May 2009