A critical reason for the high level of corruption in South Africa is that in many instances, the primary moral, value and behavioural learning spaces, such as parenting and cultural, traditional and religious structures, are broken, toxic and corrupted.

Furthermore, other fundamental parts of the moral ecosystem — the Constitution, the education system, the state, workplaces, regulatory bodies of professions and political parties — which help determine whether people act morally and ethically, are also in many instances corrupted, broken or contested.

Moral values define what people see as acceptable behaviour for themselves and what society collectively accepts or rejects as acceptable behaviour by individuals. Ethics is conduct or behaviour that is morally right or wrong — in one’s interaction with others, in business and with the environment.

Moral values are formed within an overarching ecosystem which includes families, communities, cultural, traditional, religious and educational institutions, and the Constitution. South Africa’s overarching moral values, whether set by family, the Constitution, culture or religion, which govern the behaviour of individuals, in intimate spaces, day-to-day interaction with others or in the conduct of politics, business and government, have in many instances been corrupted. 

South Africa’s moral accountability system — all the institutions that are supposed to hold public, elected and private leaders and organisations morally accountable — is broken. 

Toxic families 

Good moral values and ethical behaviour are generally expected to be primarily taught at home. The deprivations of apartheid, whether attacks on black adults’ sense of self because they were ill-treated as children, or because of long-term unemployment or because of the migrant labour system, broke the institution of the black family. State failure in the post-apartheid era has perpetuated continued generational cycles of broken families. A lack of functional families has undermined moral learning at the family level. 

The black community has high numbers of single-parent families, child-headed families and children raised by grandparents because the parents are absent, either working as migrants or not involved. The phenomenon of “blesser”, where well-off older men have sexual relations with younger women in exchange for money, has also increased single-parenthood, with young women bearing children from “blessers”, who are absent in the child-rearing. 

In many black communities, black men increasingly view having many children as boosting their self-worth, manliness and sense of power. Teenage pregnancies are at an all-time high, with children from broken and traumatised families becoming parents.

Many African “traditions”, “customs” and “cultures” are unconstitutional, for example, promoting patriarchy, toxic masculinity and violence — and have often been unable to be lodestars for good moral values for families in the constitutional dispensation. Many of the country’s religious institutions have also been corrupted, as has community culture — the everyday local beliefs and traditions learnt and passed on in communities. 

Many of South Africa’s state schools are dysfunctional and often cannot provide moral education when parents, traditions, religion and communities fail. Many children grow up with few good role models, whether in families, neighbourhoods, schools, traditional authorities or religious figures.

The ANC is morally corrupt

The governing ANC itself is systemically corrupt — many of its leaders and values and its organisational culture have been deeply compromised. Systemic corruption within the ANC has corrupted good moral values across broader society. A governing party, especially one as dominant as the ANC, sets the moral tone for the behaviour of its members and wider society.

The ANC is a liberation movement that has its own constitution, values and culture that many leaders, members and supporters see as being above the country’s Constitution. When he was president, Jacob Zuma warned ANC leaders and members that the party’s law was above that of the Constitution. Because ANC leaders, members and supporters put the party’s constitution above that of the country’s Constitution, corrupt, criminal and incompetent ANC leaders are untouchable if they break the law, as long as they adhere to the party line.

The ANC government’s rejection of merit in appointments in the public sector and in its nomination of elected officials and the distribution of tenders has poisoned society’s moral framework. Appointments to the public sector, state-owned enterprises and the awarding of government tenders are increasingly determined by the ANC’s deployment committees, members of which are ANC cadres who are deemed “loyal” to the party leadership or the dominant leading faction.

This means that competency, talent and honesty are not the overriding factors in appointments and tenders, but connectivity to the party, the leading party faction or the leadership are the most important criteria. The lack of merit in the public sector has not only led to a mediocracy, but has also undermined good moral values across society. 

African traditions, authorities and “customs” have in many areas been allowed to become thoroughly corrupted. This has undermined the moral base of society.

Some ANC leaders take refuge in “traditional law” when they want to escape accountability for wrongdoing under the Constitution. There have been many calls from some ANC leaders, such as Lindiwe Sisulu, for supposedly “African” law to be the arbiter of their actions and not South Africa’s democratic Constitution.

The moral governance systems of many of the country’s religious institutions have also been corrupted. Church pulpits are increasingly used by politicians to campaign for the votes of parishioners ahead of elections, and also by corrupt politicians seeking the blessing of the church after being implicated in wrongdoing.

Moral failure by professional associations

In the private and public sectors, professional associations for the legal, auditing and medical professions have spectacularly failed to uphold ethical and professional behaviour by their members.

Society generally views auditors, medical professionals and the legal profession with high regard. But, the business cultures of many professional service companies — law firms, auditing firms and medical companies — have begun to mirror the corrupt culture of the ANC and the state, with whom they are doing business. Many of the professional firms — whether law, auditing or medical — argue that because the government and everyone else behaves corruptly, we had better do the same, or face losing out on lucrative government contracts.

The corruption of some of the regulatory authorities has contributed to the spread of corruption in the professions. In many cases, supposedly independent regulatory authorities have been staffed by corrupt, incompetent and uncaring ANC cadre deployees.

Bling has replaced morals

With the corruption, breakdown or dismissal of all the guiding moral systems — the Constitution, the ANC’s liberation ideology, African traditions, religious and professional ethics and communal moral values — a new bling culture has in many cases filled the void.

When the ANC came to power, its leaders inherited the trappings of state power left by the apartheid government: luxury cars, bodyguards, mansions, being waited on, free schooling for their children, free healthcare, free luxury travel and so on. This is reinforced in the private sector, where the new black political elite looks to the lifestyle of the white business elite — which often mirrors that of the apartheid white political elite — as one to emulate, to be “level” with them.

This bling lifestyle appears to have become the new standard of achievement — a sign that one has made it. Individual worth is now increasingly measured by many in the black community on whether one can afford the bling lifestyle — not on one’s contribution to public service or doing the public good. The corrupt, like tenderpreneur Edwin Sodi, are hero-worshipped.

Also, for many, it does not matter how one achieves this lifestyle — whether through corruption, crime, cadre deployment or tenderpreneurship — as long as one acquires it. It appears that acquiring the means to live the bling lifestyle gives one self-worth, and others bestow worth on those with bling lifestyles. 

The peer pressure within black society to live up to this bling lifestyle is immense — Hollywood-style weddings, parties and bashes are now the currency. Leaders of breakaway parties from the ANC, such as the Economic Freedom Fighters have embraced the bling life, with EFF leader Julius Malema living it up in Ibiza, having Champagne parties and driving expensive vehicles.

The ANC’s policy of deployment also helps along this bling culture. Cosying up to the local ANC leadership can secure a lucrative “deployment” to government, business or the party, a ticket to the bling lifestyle. Praise-singing the leadership even if they are wrong, supporting actions that go against prudent values, and self-censorship have become the norm. 

Corporate corruption is not seen as corruption

Corruption in business is often not seen in a serious light by business leaders. For one, collusion practices, where prices are fixed between companies to the detriment of poor consumers, are rarely seen by companies as corruption. Yet corruption as seen at Steinhoff, one of South Africa’s largest companies, which announced in December 2017 that it had committed “accounting irregularities”, is not an isolated incident, but reflects a culture of systemic corruption within the private sector, almost similar to that of the public sector. 

In 2017, three South African banks were implicated among 17 banking groups colluding to price-fix the rand, after an investigation by the Competition Commission since 2015. In November 2017, the Department of Water Affairs and Sanitation revealed that 36 mines were operating without water licences, violating the National Water Act as they used water and polluted it without being monitored. 

Five case studies by the Centre for Applied Legal Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand in 2018 on mines ranging from platinum to coal, found that very little of the social and labour plans mining companies signed up to were implemented. The study found that mining companies had spectacularly failed to build houses and provide childcare, bursaries and training. In most cases, mine companies also did not tell employees and local communities about their social and labour plan “commitments”.

In 2013, 15 construction firms agreed to pay fines totalling R1.4-billion for collusive tendering, related to work for the 2010 Fifa World Cup. In 2012, the Competition Commission announced several fishing companies had admitted to price-fixing of pelagic fish products. In 2007, a number of bread companies, including Tiger Brands, were found guilty of fixing the price of bread and the costs of milling. Six of South Africa’s leading milk producers were accused in 2006 of price-fixing in a case that went on until 2011.

Misplaced racial solidarity behind corrupt individuals 

Many black South Africans closed ranks behind corrupt leaders solely because they are black. This phenomenon has increased corruption. Misplaced racial, ethnic and Struggle solidarity to support individuals solely on whether they are black or white, or from the same ethnic group, language or religion, no matter whether they are criminal, corrupt, or undemocratic, has also undermined the country’s good moral framework.

Racial, ethnic and Struggle solidarity should be replaced by moral solidarity — supporting leaders who are democratic, honest and competent, no matter their colour, ethnic group or faction.

Furthermore, blaming colonialism and apartheid has become a convenient scapegoat for those who justify immoral behaviour, with many, such as Zuma, saying that apartheid leaders also used the state for personal enrichment. Sadly, many black supporters of the corrupt support their corrupt heroes by saying apartheid leaders were not prosecuted, so their leaders should also not be prosecuted for wrongdoing.

The Constitution, the apex moral guide, is contested

In a democratic system, a country’s Constitution, its laws and rules set the overall moral framework to which every citizen must adhere.

However, South Africa’s Constitution is facing competing “moral” governance systems such as the ANC’s party “laws”, customary law and gang laws. This means South Africa has a fragmented moral universe, rather than a common, unifying one.

During apartheid, the oppressed communities saw laws as illegitimate, something to be defied. These included laws governing anything from littering, queue jumping to taxi drivers ignoring traffic laws. However, in the new democracy, some formerly disadvantaged communities defy the Constitution, laws and social norms as it if they are still illegitimate.

Lack of accountability at all levels

Effective accountability requires a sound accountability ecosystem which involves legal reporting frameworks. These include effective internal government controls, processes and institutions; democratic oversight institutions, such as Parliament, the Auditor-General, the Public Protector and other Chapter 9 institutions; public access to information on state actions, decisions and use of public resources; non-state oversight institutions such as the media, civil society and ordinary citizens; and consequences for wrongdoing. South Africa’s public accountability ecosystem is broken.

The media, civil society organisations and whistle-blowers have consistently pointed out corruption, mismanagement and poor public services. They have similarly also been dismissed. The judiciary has often become the last resort for ordinary citizens to hold elected and public officials accountable after ANC and government leaders fail to heed other watchdogs’ calls for accountability. Throughout Zuma’s presidency, Parliament was ineffective at holding elected and public officials accountable.

The ANC as the majority party appoints the majority of members of Parliament. South Africa’s electoral system allows ANC leaders to handpick candidates for Parliament, who in turn are accountable to the party and its leadership, not to their constituencies. This means that a corrupt ANC leadership can appoint corrupt members of Parliament. 

Furthermore, the ANC, through the policy of deployment, can appoint almost every head of democratic oversight institutions. Party leaders often appoint pliable, compromised and corrupt individuals who will account to the leaders and the party, rather than to the Constitution or in the public interest. The deployment of such compromised individuals weakens the accountability ecosystem and democratic oversight checks and balances. One reason for the lack of accountability is the lack of consequences for wrongdoing. 

Many citizens “self-rationalise” wrong behaviour that would “otherwise violate their internal moral framework”. In such “self-rationalisation”, everyone is doing it, there is a “denial of responsibility, denial of injury, denial of the victims” of corruption. Those that do wrong, do not see themselves as doing anything wrong, because wrongdoing is normalised. 

Many South Africans still do not use their vote effectively to enforce accountability. Governing parties and leaders do not become more accountable, honest or morally good unless they have a real prospect of losing power.

The need to rebuild democratic moral values across all spheres 

The entire moral and ethical universe of South Africa needs to be changed, with parenting, communities and culture being crucial. The Constitution must be restored as the pinnacle moral system of the country. To change the culture of corruption in SA will demand a “comprehensive series of initiatives, mutually supporting and complementing”, which rest on teaching moral values at all levels of society, starting with parenting, communities, cultures, schooling and workplaces.

It is crucial that there is a societywide intervention to strengthen black parenting into one that is based on democratic moral values. African traditions, cultures and communal practices that undermine constitutional moral values, individual dignity and rights must be abolished or reformed. It should be obligatory that constitutional moral values are included in the curricula of traditions, cultures and religions that have coming-of-age ceremonies.

Merit has to be introduced in the public sector — rather than political connectedness, Struggle credentials and ethnic solidarity. Competency, talent and honesty must become the overriding factors in public sector appointments and tenders. South Africa will have to rid itself of the destructive bling culture, bling leadership and the hero-worship of bling. 

Corporate corruption must be taken more seriously. Companies trading on government contracts should be compelled to adhere to a set of integrity standards, in which they forswear corrupt activities. 

Morality must be taught at all levels of schooling, from nursery to tertiary. It must be part of all induction programmes in businesses, civil society and professional organisations. Anti-poverty strategies, government empowerment, public works, community-building programmes and social grants must be multidimensional in that they must include democratic, moral and civic values.

Last, South Africa may need a grassroots civil movement, like those in post-war South Korea and Japan for moral regeneration. It should not be run or organised by the government. DM

Gumede is an associate professor at the University of the Witwatersrand’s School of Governance and the author of Restless Nation: Making Sense of Troubled Times (Tafelberg)