Ethical Leadership Principles in South African Public Administration Lost Opportunity or Alive with Possibility

Abstract

South Africa is a society emerging from a chequered and troubled past with a legacy of
impairments in terms of education skills, opportunities, resentments, equality and
perceptions. As in many societies, corruption is recognized as a major hindrance to good
governance in the public sector. The South African government has prompted the public
sector to focus on anti-corruption measures as part of their mechanisms to prevent and
curb corruption. It is evident that these mechanisms are insufficient to prevent and curb
corruption, due to poor governance practices, such as weakness and gaps in legislation.
Furthermore, the public sector has seen that there are unethical and even toxic leaders,
who exploit the loopholes in the systems and processes and seek to fulfil their personal
desires at the expense of their departments. It is therefore argued that there is increasingly
a need for ethical leadership in the public sector. This article therefore suggests the need for
ethical leadership to prevent and curb corruption and to promote good governance in the
S.A. public sector. Ethical leadership is associated with leader effectiveness and good
governance. Leaders need to demonstrate ethical leadership in their daily behaviors,
decisions and actions. By sending out strong messages about ethics and establishing clear
reward and sanction systems to hold public sector employees accountable for their actions,
leaders can do a lot to promote good governance in the public sector. This may need to be
linked to values inherent in certain uniquely cultural and South African traditions.