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SOUTH AFRICA URGENTLY NEEDS ETHICAL LEADERS

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WITH the recent Cabinet reshuffle, South Africa appears to be reaching a state of crisis, at the heart of which is the shortage of good leaders - in particular, ethical leaders - who place service to the nation ahead of power and self-enrichment.

Nothing less than ethical leadership is expected from struggle veterans and other leaders to tackle the triple challenges of unemployment, inequality and poverty.
James MacGregor Burns, a pioneer of leadership studies, writes: “A universal craving of our time is a hunger for compelling and creative leadership and yet it is one of the most observed and least understood ­phenomena on Earth.”


The consequences of unethical leaders are in the news almost every day: tax evasion, falsifying qualifications, acquiring tenders through illegal means, cadre deployment, bribery, money laundering, financial manipulation and more.
Fundamental changes need to take place and we need a new kind of leadership. How then do we develop leaders with ethics and integrity?


Ethical leadership is the process of influencing people to act on principles, values and beliefs. It generally refers to the five principles that can be traced back to Aristotle: respect, service, justice, honesty and building community. The key criterion is to live these principles, operate beyond the ego, put others first and think about the greater public good.


The fundamental reason for developing ethical leaders is to raise values to a higher level of consciousness. It is also to raise leaders’ awareness of how their behaviour affects their performance and that of the people around them. According to Tony Wall and John Knights in their book Leadership Assessment for Talent Development, organisations and countries tend to ignore these traits when identifying future leaders.

Instead, they favour the traditional leadership characteristics of self-confidence, assertiveness, influence, achievement, manipulation and an obsession with total control and ignore the good values that would temper their egos. 


It is therefore not surprising that one in 25 chief executives are considered psychopathic or sociopathic - four times higher than the general population - according to one study. Yet neuroscience research shows that positive behaviours can be learned and negative behaviours unlearned.


The most common desired values for leaders, as cited by employees, are integrity, trust, honesty and excellence. To be an ethical leader it is also necessary to develop the ‘softer’ personal conscience values of fairness, forgiveness and altruistic love, as well as the self-determinative values of purpose, courage and resilience. This takes time, practice and commitment - but can be achieved.


In the National School of Government’s recently launched executive leadership induction programme, its principal, Professor Richard Levin identified among other attributes the developing of an agile state, mastery of the basics of public services and administration, a commitment to the public good, visionary leadership and the like.
Yet there is little or no mention of the ethical basis of leadership. Unless the qualities of respect, service, justice, honesty and building community, together with the ‘softer’ personal conscience values, become an intrinsic part of the programme, the trust needed to build a credible public leadership cannot be achieved.  It is easier to develop skills in finance and human resources management than it is to learn the more elusive but vital values of leadership defined by ethics, integrity and service to the nation.
The plunder of state resources at the expense of the poor was certainly not what people in the struggle had in mind when they suffered imprisonment, torture and death for the sake of an equal South Africa.
Given the inequality in South Africa, and the dubious performance of several parastatals’ chief executives, there can be no justification for these obscene salaries. Their salaries, and those at universities, should be pegged at the upper limit of the president’s salary. Any potential appointee who questions such a salary may well lack the ingredients of ethical leadership and integrity required to undertake the task.
The savings from this exercise, together with controlling other excesses such as large luxury cars for public officials, plus unnecessary travel and entertainment expenses, would collectively signify that as a government and society we do care about the poor and are moving towards an egalitarian society. This will signal transformation.
There are two ways in which leadership and democracy are in tension. First, democracy provides checks and balances to protect sovereignty, which constrain the work of leaders: they make it difficult for the incumbent to accomplish goals people believe are desirable. An example would be former president Barack Obama’s desire to close the prison in Guantánamo Bay, which was stymied by Congress.
The opposite problem arises when leaders abuse their power, as in President Jacob Zuma firing the competent minister of finance and appointing an unknown incumbent with little financial acumen.
One of our most ethical leaders, former Public protector Thuli Madonsela, said of the need for leaders at all levels of society: “It needs people who call out leaders who deviate from the path of building a united nation where everyone’s potential is freed and lives improved. The people must call out leaders who do not walk their talk on matters of ethics, anti-corruption and general good governance.”

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