Posts

Corporate SA must do much more to boost good ethics

By Cynthia Schoeman First published on Ethics Monitor In April 2017, I wrote under the title “Unethical leadership – the slide from the rainbow nation to junk status” that our country’s history should represent a wonderful story of the triumph of ethics. After centuries of oppression, South Africa’s transition to a constitutional democracy represented a Read more >

CW and CASAC call for review of candidate lists

It is widely accepted that Parliament and other legislative bodies were conspicuously absent from efforts mounted to combat the corruption and state capture that characterized the period of the Zuma administration. This responsibility was largely left to civil society organisations, investigative journalists and the courts while Parliament proved, at best, unable to exercise its considerable Read more >

The corporate culture continuum: from ethical to toxic

By Cynthia Schoeman First published on Ethics Monitor The importance of organisational culture rests on the definition of culture as “the way things are done around here” because it illustrates that culture shapes behaviour in organisations. The quest for more ethical workplace behaviour makes culture especially pertinent and the establishment of ethical conduct as the Read more >

AEPF: SA professionals do have ethical courage

Professionals working in the auditing and accounting fields in South Africa are generally keen to report unethical behaviour within their fields, provided the conditions under which they do so are conducive and supportive. There are risks involved in exposing corruption or unethical behaviour, and if companies and professional bodies do not curb incidents of intimidation, Read more >

In an ethical meltdown, we must keep ethics alive

By Cynthia Schoeman #KeepingEthicsAlive The current ethical status in South Africa is, to say the least, very troubling. Reports and claims of state capture, corruption and self-enrichment by a select few continue to emerge. The consequent political uncertainty coupled with low economic growth – with junk status threatening even lower growth – pose numerous risks, Read more >

From rainbow nation to junk status, via unethical leaders

By Cynthia Schoeman First published on Ethics Monitor Our country’s recent history should represent a wonderful story of the triumph of ethics: of what is good and right. After centuries of oppression, South Africa emerged as the rainbow nation, and the peaceful transition to a democracy was heralded as a miracle. The massive moral shift Read more >

Why people commit white collar crimes (and how to stop them)

By Alice BrightSky First published on the FCPA blog We’ve all heard of them — the Bernie Madoffs and Michael Milkens whose cinematic crimes have painted our perception of white-collar criminality. However, while wrongdoers such as Madoff and Milken are rightly villainised for their misdeeds, their dramatic schemes tend to occlude the far more common Read more >

Corporate gifts: acceptable practice vs corruption

By Cynthia Schoeman Extracted from Ethics Can The giving and receiving of gifts is especially prevalent at this time of the year. This not only highlights the question of what is and is not acceptable and ethical, but also increases the potential for abuse. In response to the possible negative aspects of gifts, many organisations Read more >

South Africa needs an integrity commission

by Advocate Paul Hoffman Commentators and the twitterati are abuzz, describing the symptoms of the war of attrition at present, in progress in and between the centres of power in the South African body politic. General anxiety in the land has spawned local use of the hashtag #Where do we go from here? Martin Luther Read more >