media releases - Speech by Dr Phosa at the Principal's summit on ethics

4 July 2011
Ethical Leadership

Since time immemorial, societies and various faiths have made and imposed rules that guide and even dictate our conduct and behaviour - supposedly for our own, and the common good. Some societies take these rules so seriously that to flout them invites severe and sometime fatal sanctions. And yet, since time immemorial we have broken those rules repeatedly and quite deliberately – in full knowledge that there will be sanctions. Many believe that it is that very spirit of defiance, or independence or rebelliousness – call it what you want – within us, that necessitates the rules, and seen from the perspective of societal order and the common good, then perhaps that is true. What cannot be denied though, is that while rules, whatever their format, bring some measure of order to societies, they do not sit comfortably with us, especially where they presume to dictate or govern our moral and ethical conduct.

In the Apartheid era we had “rules” in the form of actual laws that governed and dictated our moral conduct. I can tell you for example, that 25 years ago, this gathering would have been both illegal and impossible. Being in a relationship with a person of another colour was illegal – finish and klaar. Attempting to have any kind of close friendship with a person of a different race would have brought about suspicion, harassment and ostracisation. And disobeying those rules could be life threatening as we all know. History has provided far too many shameful examples. But despite that we disobeyed and rebelled anyway, Apartheid was ultimately overcome, and we learnt that legislating behaviours was an exercise in futility. We understood that ultimately, moral and ethical behaviours are a matter of choice. They cannot be legislated or imposed, but merely proposed and encouraged....Read more. (PDF)