How do they sleep at night? Lack of collective guilt over systemic wrongs leads to moral, structural fallout

South Africans have lost their sense of shame, said former finance minister Trevor Manuel during his keynote address in 2017 at the 7th Annual Conference of The Ethics Institute. He explained that South Africans, and politicians in particular, have lost their ability to feel guilty about having done bad things. It is universal that people have an innate sense of shame and experience guilt or remorse after committing wrongdoing, and perhaps do not sleep quite soundly at night. A decade later, the question arises: can something be done to disturb their conscienceless sleep?

Guilt, shame and remorse are closely related moral emotions that shape ethical awareness and behaviour. Guilt typically arises when individuals recognise that they have done something wrong and feel responsible for the harm caused. Shame, by contrast, involves a negative evaluation of the self rather than merely the action, leading a person to feel exposed, diminished or morally flawed. Remorse is a deeper emotional response that combines guilt with sorrow and regret for the consequences of one’s actions, often accompanied by a desire to make amends. Together, these emotions function as moral signals that encourage reflection, accountability and corrective behaviour in personal and organisational contexts.

Where does one see a lack of guilt play out? At a broader societal level, the government sides with and makes decisions, among others, in favour of countries that then disinvest or cease investing in the economy of South Africa. This is often akin to holding out a begging bowl to countries that have deep pockets and then using the same begging bowl to hit them over the head, whether they have invested in South Africa or not. There is seemingly no guilt about the effects this may have – escalating fuel prices, stock markets plummeting and thus citizens’ investments and pension funds being diluted, tariff increases that seriously affect exports and prices, and many more.

Being party to any form of corruption in state-owned entities, government departments and institutions at all levels – national, provincial and local – directly or indirectly, wastes taxpayers’ money. One result of this is the fact that, through theft of public funds and poor management, municipalities owe Eskom billions. This has a crippling effect on the whole country, all businesses and every citizen. Investigations and commissions of inquiry do not even melt the outer layer of the iceberg. Tomorrow it is business, or non-business, as usual. Those in charge obviously sleep well at night. No guilt in evidence.

Joe Public witnesses guiltless action daily. Criminals kill and rob without constraint. The perpetrators clearly have no sense of shame or regret. When sentenced, they show no remorse. Taxis and motorists who flagrantly break traffic rules, often putting lives in danger, continue doing so defiantly and aggressively without any visible signs of feeling at least some guilt over their actions.

Service delivery is often nonexistent – water and electricity supply and sewerage operations are grinding to a halt. Yet, the minister of water affairs and sanitation audaciously announces South Africa’s R800-million investment, again using taxpayers’ money, in the Zanzibar Water Authority. Back home, it is naïve to believe that millions of households can expect regular water supply.

Why do people not experience feelings of guilt? Many individuals who do not feel guilt still understand social rules and expectations. They simply “play down” or ignore this information because it lacks an emotional “cost” (the feeling of guilt) to them. They have no sensitivity to others’ pain and suffering.

A sense of entitlement – “it is our time to eat” – justifies the misappropriation of funds, bad management and callous wrongdoing. The 11th Commandment that applies in South Africa – “as long as we don’t get caught” – is reinforced by a lack of law enforcement and an inadequate judicial system. The situation has long moved past an argument for survival – there is no logic to a claim to survival when you have five luxury vehicles in the garage of your R15-million mansion.

A major contributor to the inability to experience guilt or shame is the tendency to rationalise wrongdoing, be it petty or profound. People rationalise when they grow up in environments where antisocial or harmful behaviours are modelled and reinforced, and where these behaviour patterns are then adopted as normal. Children whose dependency needs are met regardless of their behaviour may fail to develop the necessary link between their actions and the consequences for others.

Societies may use vindicating reasoning to justify harmful actions by attributing them to external circumstances (such as an economic crisis or coercion) to avoid a sense of responsibility, effectively “victimising” themselves to bypass guilt. Denying responsibility leads to people “forgetting” guilt-inducing events by minimising or denying the extent of the harm done to maintain a positive group image.

Failing to experience guilt has significant moral fallout. A collective lack of guilt in society, where large groups or the entire population fail to feel remorse for systemic wrongs, leads to significant moral and structural fallout. When guilt is absent at a societal level, the internal emotional “brake” that typically prevents harm and encourages reparation is replaced by defensive justifications and the erosion of social trust.

There is no quick fix way to ameliorate an inability to feel guilty. One cannot force or induce others to suddenly start feeling guilty. It is not all doom and gloom, however. Calls for a change of leadership or “ethical leadership” that can assume accountability are overused and do not make any dent.

Perhaps a call to collective action by the masses and organisations that could represent them without a “what’s-in-it-for-me” agenda, could help to change the hearts and minds of those who are “bendable”. A somewhat cynical take on the good or lack of it in people, is that people are either “unbendable”, “bendable” or irrevocably “bent”.

A small minority of human beings are unbendable, that is, those who are inherently “good” to the extent that they will never indulge in wrongdoing of any kind, be it lying, cheating or stealing, unless their lives are in danger. Another small minority is the bent. These are people who are inherently psychopathic or evil – such individuals are not wired to experience guilt, shame or remorse. The bent cannot be rehabilitated.

Ironically, the vast majority of humans are bendable. They are good and decent, yet susceptible to external influence. Being pliable, they could either side with the unbendable or the bent, depending on their circumstances.

A concerted focus on the bendable is thus required. This majority contingent of society should have their inherent “goodness” reinforced by, among other measures, first removing or severely punishing the bent in their midst through proper consequence management – a “stop-nonsense” approach. It is a fact that people often refrain from engaging in wrongdoing after having observed what happens to others who did and were exposed.

Furthermore, recognition and reward for good behaviour should be kindled in childhood and reinforced throughout the rest of people’s lives. This can be achieved through systemic change as facilitated by collective action, which begins during childhood. However, such action can only be effective in the long term. The use of existing collective action organisations and groups – a multi-stakeholder approach – and the formation of new, large-scale collective action organisations “for good” are required as a critical imperative.

Besides large consortiums consisting of formal law enforcement and justice-related organisations, typical organisations that could join forces for a comprehensive collective action effort are the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, the National Business Initiative, Business Unity South Africa, Business Leadership South Africa, the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse, Operation Vulindlela, Corruption Watch, The Ethics Institute and the Banking Association of South Africa, as well as international organisations such as the United Nations Global Compact and the Basel Institute on Governance.

A sense of order, based on a glimmer of some constructive feelings of guilt, should gradually evolve through structured, all-embracing collective action. This necessitates deep change where the bent are properly dealt with and the basic goodness of the bendable, yet always impressionable, contingent of society is peacefully ignited and continually mobilised. Otherwise, the bent and those who have migrated to their way of thinking will continue to sleep soundly. DM