South Africa: Leaders Must Answer to More Than Just the Law

opinion

Johannesburg — TOO many South African politicians wrongly believe being in a position of public leadership requires them to comply with legal but not ethical standards. We legitimise their power to enact laws and policies that affect our lives intimately. We must therefore reject leaders who comply merely with legal standards because they regard ethical norms as optional. Even then, many of them regard legal norms - which are less demanding than ethical ones - as also unnecessary.

If we are, however, to succeed in developing a culture of ethical excellence in public leadership, then our politicians must be made to understand the difference between law and ethics. Thereafter it will be up to us to hold them to both sets of standards.

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