Guard against mercenaries waiting for chink in armour of ethical conduct

IF ONLY we could learn from each and every misdeed we have committed as a country, we could become perhaps one of the foremost modern economies of our time.

If our mistakes as a nation were to serve as points of reference for intentional learning, we could transform this nation and surely soon be counted among the best in the world.

While the mandate of leadership has been given to the ANC since 1994, the country still belongs to all of us, and ultimately, we must take responsibility for the state of our nation. The wealth of available lessons is so vast that literally each of us has a relevant lesson waiting.

This requires that we move beyond merely pointing out the obvious failures of the ruling party, and ask ourselves important questions in order to extract these lessons.

How can we, both personally and collectively, avoid ever finding ourselves in this situation again? What actions can we take consistently to build an atmosphere which promotes the values which will always ensure that we not only promote the rule of law, but exceed the expectations of law?

What commitments can we make to ensure that from now on, development and empowerment is aligned to the real demands of our economy through meaningful economic participation for all?

What social values should we restore and develop to ensure justice and a meaningful contribution is possible from each of us?

How can we rediscover simple honesty, and demonstrate it by saying what we mean, meaning what we say and acting consistently to achieve it?

While I appreciate the increasing frankness of ANC leaders in confronting the shortfalls of the ANC – at least in their speeches – I’m not happy about the suggestion that these lessons are only for the ANC.

Instead, the ANC has served as the main entity through which we have all tested our limits, and discovered the devastating consequences of elevating political expediency above everything else.

These lessons themselves are for all of us as a nation.

The myth that corruption was limited to the illegitimate government of the National Party has been clearly disproved.

Now we know that corruption is a danger which always lurks, waiting for a chink in the armour of ethical conduct to weaken and destroy any person, entity or government who succumbs to it. This is no small lesson! In his O R Tambo memorial speech, former president Thabo Mbeki highlighted some of the shortfalls and lessons that he, along with us, must learn.

“The fact of the matter is that during the last two decades, the ANC has failed to do two things which Nelson Mandela mentioned in 1997 – to purge itself of the mercenaries who had joined its ranks and to make it difficult for such elements to join the movement.”

If the Sunday Times’ lead story last weekend is accurate, such “mercenaries” are in abundance around President Jacob Zuma and the ANC.

However, it would be a mistake to think Mbeki’s observations have significance for the ANC alone.

It is our responsibility as citizens to ensure that all political organisations are pressured to purge themselves of “mercenaries” who join their ranks for nefarious motives. It’s equally imperative that we make sure political parties “make it difficult for such elements to join” their ranks.

In fact, we as a society should purge South Africa of “mercenaries who join” us – whether through birth or naturalisation – and make it hard for them to be part of our national community.

Organisations – political, business, social or otherwise – must be vigilant and guard against such “mercenaries”.

Leaders must spend every waking hour teaching such vigilance, embodying it and acting consistently with it.

At the same time, we need every citizen to do likewise – teach the same vigilance, embody it and act consistently with it, personally and collectively.

Perhaps identifying greed as the root cause of the deterioration, Mbeki said: “The challenge which arose with this access to state power was and is that it could be abused, was and is being abused for purposes of self-enrichment.”

As much as poverty has been part of our history, we cannot exchange that poverty for greater poverty, which is the poverty of the mind and spirit.

Greed is central to the deadly concoction of poverty – and we must disown it through conscious ethical and selfless conduct at all times.

No “mercenaries” will find a home among us if we do so with steadfast determination!