We may request cookies to be set on your device. We use cookies to let us know when you visit our websites, how you interact with us, to enrich your user experience, and to customize your relationship with our website.
Click on the different category headings to find out more. You can also change some of your preferences. Note that blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience on our websites and the services we are able to offer.
These cookies are strictly necessary to provide you with services available through our website and to use some of its features.
Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the website, refusing them will have impact how our site functions. You always can block or delete cookies by changing your browser settings and force blocking all cookies on this website. But this will always prompt you to accept/refuse cookies when revisiting our site.
We fully respect if you want to refuse cookies but to avoid asking you again and again kindly allow us to store a cookie for that. You are free to opt out any time or opt in for other cookies to get a better experience. If you refuse cookies we will remove all set cookies in our domain.
We provide you with a list of stored cookies on your computer in our domain so you can check what we stored. Due to security reasons we are not able to show or modify cookies from other domains. You can check these in your browser security settings.
We also use different external services like Google Webfonts, Google Maps, and external Video providers. Since these providers may collect personal data like your IP address we allow you to block them here. Please be aware that this might heavily reduce the functionality and appearance of our site. Changes will take effect once you reload the page.
Google Webfont Settings:
Google Map Settings:
Google reCaptcha Settings:
Vimeo and Youtube video embeds:
You can read about our cookies and privacy settings in detail on our Privacy Policy Page.
Privacy Policy
Ethics during lockdown
by Ms Dantia Richards | Published on 29 April 2020 for The Ethics Institute monthly newsletter
The moral behaviour of South Africans during the national lockdown, gives me moments of both sheer joy and painful disappointment. As South Africans, often referred to as the ‘rainbow nation’, it is astounding to see the diverse effect on individuals; and the variety of responses to COVID-19 and lockdown this ‘rainbow nation’ has delivered.
Driving to my closest shopping centre, I see a disturbing amount of people completely disregarding the measures put in place by our President to keep South Africans safe during the largest pandemic we have faced in our lifetime. People are still roaming the streets as if they have a pink slip allowing them to do so.
This is not a time for a Moral Moratorium, but for Moral Imagination
by Prof Deon Rossouw | Published on 29 April 2020 for The Ethics Institute monthly newsletter
Crisis always has the potential of bringing out the best and the worst in human beings. We have already seen much of both in the current Corona crisis. We have seen gestures of goodwill where people make personal sacrifices for the sake of others who are detrimentally affected by the Pandemic. However, we have also seen people who make exceptions of themselves by not abiding by the measures announced to curb the spread of the Corona virus, thereby recklessly putting their own and the health and safety of others at risk.
The main culprits of weak ethical cultures
by Prof Leon van Vuuren and Dr. Paul Vorster | Published on 25 March 2020 for The Ethics Institute monthly newsletter
The Ethics Institute recently conducted research to determine the extent to which organisational ethical culture contributes to ethical failures. The survey was done in 19 medium to large private sector organisations across all industries. A total of 2791 employees participated in the survey.
It was evident from the research that organisations with weak ethical cultures do not adhere to principles of good governance and ethics. It can be argued that there is a causal link between ‘strong ethical cultures’ and ‘good performance’. This is especially true if we consider the financial damage that organisations with poor ethics have suffered in recent times.
COVID-19 is Humanity’s ‘Finest Hour’
by Dr. Paul Vorster | Published on 25 March 2020 for The Ethics Institute monthly newsletter
Humanity now faces a threat second to none. As of writing this article there have been 424 802 infections with 18 962 deaths due to the SARS Cov-2 virus that causes the respiratory disease known as COVID-19. Over 197 territories have been affected by this pandemic. It is essentially a global threat. It is harming our economies as stock markets fall and countries effectively shut their borders in a total ‘shutdown’. The effect of this virus is not just illness, but possible economic collapse and in the worst-case, social collapse.
In the recent weeks I have seen stories of people panicking and buying out essential goods from supermarkets. In a more horrific turn of events, my local supermarket had incidents where older people, who are at most risk of death from this pandemic, were shunted aside as younger and stronger citizens with more buying power stockpiled goods.
There are stories of people ignoring the risk of the virus and being irresponsible, with a new social media sensation where people expose themselves to the virus as a sort of ‘exciting’ risk. Do they not realise that their health may affect the health of others? Especially those with chronic diseases or the elderly.
Ethical failures to blame for the poor state of SOEs
by Dr. Paul Vorster and Nicole Konstantinopoulos| Published on 26 February 2020 for The Ethics Institute monthly newsletter
South Africa is in trouble. State-owned enterprises (SOEs), which have the responsibility to ensure that crucial services are provided to enable the critical functioning of the South African economy, are failing. One doesn’t have to look far to see the dire effect of blackouts (i.e., loadshedding), ineffective rail infrastructure, or the numerous incidents of public looting and mismanagement at SOEs responsible for financial investment and development.
Regaining trust is a long and arduous journey
by Prof Deon Rossouw | Published on 27 January 2020 for The Ethics Institute monthly newsletter
2020 did not start well for South Africa. There was load-shedding during the school holidays, despite President Ramaphosa’s promise to the contrary. Moody’s rating agency down-graded the Landbank to sub-investment credit grade or ‘junk’ status. The International Monetary Fund cut South Africa’s economic growth prospects from 1.1% to 0.8% for the year. And all of this in just the first few days of the new decade.
One (ethical) swallow does not make a summer, but it might be a sign of things to come…
by Prof Deon Rossouw | Published on 4 December 2019 for The Ethics Institute monthly newsletter
By December, it is not unusual to find people fatigued after the toil of the year, yet, this time around, there is also a prevailing sense of moral fatigue. How many more revelations of unethical conduct and practices can we absorb without becoming totally cynical about the moral fibre and ethical backbone of our country? We are in dire need of some good news, and I think there may be a sign of some on the horizon.
What stands in the way of building a professional public service?
by Kris Dobie | Published on 25 October 2019 for The Ethics Institute monthly newsletter
Discussions of ethical challenges in the public sector frequently lead to discussions of the ‘political-administrative interface’, which seems to be a euphemism for political interference in the bureaucratic systems of government. To which the solution is just as frequently given that we need a ‘more professional’ public sector.
Gender-based violence is a values problem
by Liezl Groenewald | Published on 25 September 2019 for The Ethics Institute monthly newsletter
As a string of monstrous acts of gender-based violence dominate the conversation in South Africa, we feel a desperate need to see it end. To demand solutions. To say “enough is enough” – because it is. After a somewhat delayed reaction, President Ramaphosa said, “There is a dark and heavy shadow across our land. The women and children of this country are under siege. There is a very violent and brutal war underway against the women of South Africa”. He wasn’t wrong.
What’s so great about equality?
by Grace Garland | Published on 25 September 2018 for The Ethics Institute monthly newsletter
In South Africa, and indeed probably any democracy around the world, the idea of ‘equality’ is held up as a core goal for society. This is not new. The ancient Greek philosopher Plato thought that justice was the highest virtue, and that anything inequitable is unjust and anything equitable is just. Revolutionaries in France in 1789 thought that equality belonged with liberty and fraternity as the founding principles of their envisioned post-monarchist society. And here, equality is enshrined in the Bill of Rights. But do we know what we mean when we use the word today? There is a case to be made that we do not, and so expose ourselves to a danger of sorts.
The paradox of being a whistle-blowing hero
by Liezl Groenewald | Published on 27 August 2018 for The Ethics Institute monthly newsletter
South Africans owe a debt of gratitude to a handful of courageous individuals who stood up against state capture and put their lives and careers in jeopardy. Without them, so much would have been allowed to continue unobstructed, and we would probably be living in a very different country today. Society owes them gratitude. Unfortunately, in many cases, the reality of their experiences has been far from rosy.
Governance form vs function
by Prof Deon Rossouw and Parmi Natesan | Published on 27 July 2018 for The Ethics Institute monthly newsletter, along with a joint press release with the IoDSA
One of the most persistent challenges relating to governance is the tendency to focus on form rather than substance. In line with King IV, it’s time finally to accept that governance is not an end in itself, but a tool for delivering outcomes, say Parmi Natesan, Executive: Centre for Corporate Governance at the Institute of Directors in Southern Africa (IoDSA) and Professor Deon Rossouw, CEO of The Ethics Institute.