Tag: Professor Deon Rossouw

As part of the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants’ (SAICA) month-long focus on ethics, we have contributed valuable insights during a webinar on how a good ethical culture is the enabling environment for every activity of the enterprise, how it enhances the quality of all resources, and how it is the regenerative source for an organisation’s trust capital.

If there’s any situation that’s going to show your true colours, it’s a crisis. Sticking to your values during a crisis is vital. It is important to navigate your way through the COVID-19 crisis, successfully and with integrity. As part of SAICA's new Leadership in a Time of Crisis series, I highlighted the importance of leading ethically during these difficult times. 

South Africa’s current woes are in large part a result of a large-scale breakdown in ethics (both personal and professional) and good governance practices. One only needs to look at the goings-on at Steinhoff, KPMG, Eskom, SARS and VBS Bank to see the impact that unethical behaviour, large scale looting and unchecked business practices have had on the South African economy and on South Africans, whose confidence in the leadership of this country and those in business is at an all-time low.

The need for ethical leadership is much clearer and more urgent now than it has ever been since the dawn of the new South Africa. Unfortunately, it took massive corruption to elevate the importance of ethical leadership in the public consciousness, and so the cost has been high to get us to this level of awareness.