Evolution of Ethics in South African Perspective †Free Samples

Question: Discuss about the Evolution of Ethics in South African Perspective. Answer: Introduction: The article aims at focusing on the evolution of Ethics in South African Perspective. Ethics also known as moral philosophy refers to the branch of philosophy that deals with defending, systemizing and recommending concepts of the right and the wrong conduct. Thus, at levels ethics deals with fundamental issues related to the practical decision making process whose major concerns includes the ultimate value and the standards through which the actions of the humans judged either right or wrong. This is based on an editors perception that moral behaviour and ethics has been better during the second half of the 20th century compared to the first 18 years of 21st century. The article commences with the discussion on the origin of ethics in South Africa that gradually leads to the discussion on tribal/family morality, religious morality, philosopher based ethics and business ethics or corporate governance. There is also discussion on the professional ethics or conduct for the Chartered Ac countant. The article also puts forward examples of entity disasters during the first eighteen years of the 21st century under the headline where were the ethics? Origin of Ethics in South Africa South Africa represented a multiracial country where there has been preponderance of numerous Non Europeans in the ratio of 4: 1 (Russell, 2013). This made the situation of the country unique in comparison to other colonial countries. The problem lay in the fact that majority of these Non Europeans consisted of people who just emerged from the state of barbarism. This led to the emergence of doubts as to how the fruits of the western civilization proceeded and preserved. In contrast to most colonial countries, the Non-Europeans and Europeans have been living in the country for over three centuries and have contributed to the countrys development in their own manner and ability. Moreover, the Non- Europeans had no homeland and somehow had to find a means of working and living together. The country has also accepted these people as a part of the nation and aided them in serving the country to the best of their abilities. With the implementation of Policy of Apartheid, these people were considered as strangers who were tolerated in the nation for a certain time and purpose (Vandenbosch, 2015). Moreover, it also brought along that the Non Europeans can never remain as a part of the country and granted the same privileges and rights as Europeans. This implied that they would have a permanent subordinated position. However, initially the attempt of the apartheid remained in dividing the country for granting the Non Europeans some existence where they would be able to exercise their abilities in full force amongst people of their community. However, with time it became evident that the protagonists of the apartheid did not really accept the fact that South Africa is a multiracial country (Sehoole, 2013). They had the intention of destroying the multi racial character and thereby replacing it with a society that remained intolerant towards the Non Europeans. There was no consideration of enlightenment or development and it seemed only the colour determined the fate of the nation. Even the Prime Minister of the country admitted the policy of Apartheid to be based on the colour. In present times, the Policy of Apartheid in South Africa refers to the government policy granted by legislation to segregate South African population economically, socially and politically based on racial groups (Aleinikoff Klusmeyer, 2013). The aim of this segregation, whether considered partial, total, temporary or permanent, was the realization of the complete development of Non Europeans. However, the motivation of such policy lay in the claim that it represented the only means by which each of the groups of the multi-racial population could develop themselves on the own lines without being unaffected by the oppression and prejudices that could retarded advancement. Therefore, no injustice is done to the policy of apartheid if it is defined as that policy that has the final aim of completely segregating the multi-racial population into separate groups whether on a short time or long-term basis. Questions being raised on the fact that if the policy of apartheid focuses on separa te independent existence of the Non-Europeans then why there is so much of stress on the racial factor. Also, based on the logical lines of the policy then it should also be segregation of groups based on the language. However, actually the Policy of Apartheid put forward a direction or an attitude that determined the future relations between the Europeans and the Non Europeans (Clark Worger, 2016). However, people of South Africa often wonder why the Policy of Apartheid received so much support. There were various reasons put forward for apartheid and they seemed closely linked (Vandenbosch, 2015). The primary reasons lay in the ideas of racial superiority and fear. There has been a thought prevailing across the world where racism is influenced by an idea where one race remained superior to the other. Such ideas prevailed amongst all the groups of population. The other main reason for Apartheid, considered as fear made the white people worry about losing not only their jobs, but also their culture and language as their number represented minority. This does not however provide a justification but helps in explaining the thought behind supporting the Policy of Apartheid. There were numerous laws passed in the creation of an apartheid state. The article mentions few pillars on which the Policy of Apartheid rested. There was the implementation of the Population Registration Act in the year 1950 that demanded registration of the people as per their racial group (Sisk, 2017). This implied that the department of the home affairs would have record of the people based on their colour and race. This formed the basis of differential treatment based on the group of the population and defined the application of apartheid. However, it was not always easy in deciding and differentiating the racial group that gave rise to problems. There was also the implementation of the Group Areas Act in the year 1950 (Clark Worger, 2016). This act led to the physical separation between the races particularly in the urban areas. The act also led to the removal of some of the groups of the people in the areas marked separately for the particular racial group. There was also the implementation of the Bantu Self Government Act in the year 1959 that made it compulsory for the different racial groups to stay in different areas (Van Wyk, 2013). There was only a smaller percentage of South Africa left for the non-Europeans to consider as homelands. The Act also made sure that all the non- Europeans remain out of the city. The most famous removal took place in the District 6, Sophiatown and the Lady Selborne. Non- Europeans, who were mostly the blacks, were allotted place for staying mostly outside the town. These people could only rent and not buy any sort of property as they mostly belonged to the Europeans. Thus, the act brought in much resentment and hardship as people lost homes that they once owned for several years and moved to the underdeveloped areas that remained far off from the place of the work. Tribal/Family Morality A shared morality acted as the cement of the society in traditional South Africa. Traditional values included honesty, hospitality, charity, generosity, truthfulness, loyalty, solidarity and respect for the elders. People also had personal values like reliability, honesty, generosity, courage, temperance, humanity, social value and justice that helped them to integrate with other people. Apart from these, Langan (2015) also mentioned that South Africans also had virtues and moral values like benevolence, compassion, concern for others and kindness that were conducive in promoting the welfare of the others. There was also existence of co-operation, interdependence and reciprocity in the South African community. However, the society also defined various sanctions for ensuring proper behaviour. One of them included public ridicule that caused guilt, shame and fear and prevented any sort of antisocial behaviour. According to Dumisa Amao (2015), there was however distinction between reli gious and social sanction. Religious Sanction referred to practice of curse through either magic or punishment by ancestors. The positive social sanction included, honouring and praising the brave, parental gifts to the reliable children, confidence between the children and the parent. On the other hand some of the negative social sanction included, renunciation from clan or family, disinheriting, swearing of the curses and oaths, ostracism, scandalising or public disgrace and execution for notorious criminals. The present scenario in South Africa is somewhere between both the worlds that is unable to completely part with the older world and is yet to implement the new (Awajiusuk, 2014). In confusion between the two worlds, a dichotomy permeated into the moral behaviour of the people that led to the divided souls amongst the people of South Africa. Religious Morality Religion and Morality refers to the relationship that exists between the morals and religious values (Magesa, 2014). Many religions put forward value frameworks concerning the personal behaviour meant for guiding the adherents between the right and the wrong. These frameworks are interpreted by different sources like holy books, religious leaders and written and oral traditions. Some of these frameworks share tenets with the frameworks of secular value including free thought, utilitarianism and consequentialism. However, Religion and morality are not synonymous. Morality do not depend on religion however for some reason this dependability is an automatic assumption. According to Niebuhr (2013), religion and morality has different definitions and have no connections with one another. Conceptually and principally, morality and religious value system represents two separate action guides or value systems although there are some who believes that the concepts overlap. Morality represents a set of habits, customs that helps in shaping the thoughts of the people about the ways of living, and considering what is good for the human life. On the other hand, the concept of religion remains disputed. South Africa had experienced considerable amount of religious diversity. With the waves of different settlers like the French, English, Dutch and the German settlers, the country has experienced every form of Christianity and Judaism (Chidester, 2014). The slaves and workers from the India and Malaysia followed their individual forms of Hinduism and Islam. The determination of the religion between various religious communities depended on the unequal power of balance. The manner in which religion was presented in classes posed as a greater challenge for the teachers. This is because the belief in the dominance of white race has inevitably affected the lives of the people. Hence, for decades, the education system of the state supported the principle where only the religion and culture of the white Christians found a place in the curriculum of the school in spite of the fact that only a small minority belonged to such religious tradition. Most of the pupils felt devalued as the values and traditions of the families were not worthy of even mentioning. Even, today the religion in Africa influences the lives of many South Africans and is considered pagan and uncivilized. Philosopher Based Ethics The moral philosophy of Ethics involves defending, systematizing and recommending the concepts of the right and the wrong behaviour. However, in present times the philosophers divide the ethical theories in three general subjects that include Meta-ethics, normative ethics and the applied ethics. Meta-ethics refers to the branch of the analytic philosophy that helps in exploring the foundations, status and scope properties, words and moral values (McCloskey, 2013). On the other hand, normative ethics represents the branch of the philosophical ethics that examines the questions that arises when considering how a person must act while speaking on moral terms. Normative ethics thus represents the distinct form of Meta-ethics since its helps in examining the standards for the extent of wrongness or rightness of the actions (Kagan, 2018). Normative ethics is distinct from the descriptive ethics. Descriptive ethics represents the empirical investigation of the moral beliefs of the people wh ile the normative ethics believes in whether such belief is correct to hold. Normative ethics are known as prescriptive. Applied ethics refers to the branch of the ethics that deals with analysis of specific moral issues on public and private life. For instance, bioethics community deals with the identification of correct approach of moral issues in life science like the allocation of limited health resources, euthanasia or use of the human embryo in the fields of research. Environmental ethics is a field of applied ethics that is concerned with the ecological related to the responsibilities of the corporations and the government in cleaning the pollution. Applied ethics is different from normative ethics that it is concerned with the standards for the right and the wrong behaviour and meta-ethics that is concerned with the nature of ethical properties, attitudes, statements and judgements. However, the emerging typology of applied ethics makes use of six domains that helps in impro ving social issues and organizations at both the national and the global level (Hayry, 2013). This includes: Professional ethics or the ethics for improving professionalism Decision ethics or ethical decision processes or ethical theories Business ethics or morals based on individuals for improving the ethics of a business environment Social ethics or ethics amongst nations as being one global unit Organizational ethics or ethics amongst the organizations Business Ethics (Corporate Governance) Business ethics refers to the study of the proper business practices and policies regarding potentially controversial issues like insider trading, corporate governance, bribery, discrimination, fiduciary responsibilities and corporate social responsibility (Crane Matten, 2016). Therefore, business ethics helps in ensuring a required level of trusts between the consumers and various forms of the market participants related to the business. For instance, the portfolio manager must provide equal consideration to the portfolio of the family members as well as the small individual investors (Price Van der Walt, 2013).This ensured fair treatment to the public. The concept of the business ethics rose in the year 1960 with the companies becoming more aware of the rising consumer based society that portrayed concerns about the social causes, environment and the corporate responsibility. Business ethics is something that lies beyond the moral code of simply right or wrong since it helps in reconciling what the companys needs to do on a legal frontier while maintaining competitive advantage over the other businesses. Firms in South Africa however display business ethics in various ways. Corporate governance in South Africa referred to the systems of processes, practices and rules by which a company is not only controlled but also directed. This involves, balancing of the interest of the various stakeholders of the company like shareholders, customers, management, suppliers, financiers, community and the government (Du Plessis, Hargovan Harris, 2018). Corporate governance also puts forward a framework for attaining the objectives of the company so it practically includes all spheres of themanagement from internal control to action plan to corporate disclosure and performance measurement. The purpose of the corporate governance of South Africa lies in facilitating effective and prudent entrepreneurialmanagement that helps in delivering long-term success of the company. Thus, corporate governancerepresents the system with the help of which the companies are not only controlled but also directed. The boards of director represent the sole body of governance in any company. The role of the shareholder in respect to governance determines the appointment if the auditors and the directors along with satisfying them with a suitable structure of governance. The responsibilities of the board however include setting of the strategic aims of the company, providing a leadership for putting them into effect and supervising the business management and stewardship of the shareholders. Corporate governance puts forward the doings of a company and the manner in which it sets the values for the company and it required distinction from the day-to-dayoperational management by the full time executives of the company (Waweru, 2014). However, good governance has wider influence on non-listed sector since it is solely about improving the accountability and transparency within the existing systems. One of the appealing developments in the last couple of years has been the manner in which the label of the corporate governance is used for describing the accountability and governance issues beyond corporate sector. There are however eight elements of a good corporate governance. This includes: Responsiveness Equity and Inclusiveness Transparency Effectiveness and Efficiency Orientation of Consensus Participation Accountability Fair Legal Frameworks enforced by the independent regulatory body Thus, the aim of the corporate governance is to enhance the companys accountability for avoiding massive disasters like the energy giant Enron. Professional Ethics (Code of Professional Conduct for CA (SA)) A remarkable mark in the accountancy professional depends on the acceptability of the responsibilities for acting in the interest of the public (Barac Du Plessis, 2014). Thus, the responsibility of a professional accountant does not exclusively depend on satisfying the needs of the individual employer or client. Thus, while acting for public interest the professional accountant should not only comply but also observe with ethical requirements of the code. However, this code has three parts, Part A, Part B and Part C. Part A helps in establishing the basic principles of the professional ethics for the professional accountants (Soni, Maroun Padia, 2015). On the other hand, Part B and Part C illustrate the conceptual framework applied in the specific situations. The basic principles that the professionals are required to comply with includes: Objectivity: The professional chartered accountant should not allow any kind of bias, undue influence or conflict of interest in overriding business or professional judgements. Integrity: An accountant practicing professionally should not only be honest and straightforward in all the business and professional relationships Due Care and Professional Competence: The professional account must have a continuing duty in maintaining professional skill and knowledge at the required level for ensuring that the employee or client is able to receive professional service rooted in the current developments in legislation, practice and techniques (de Villiers Alexander, 2014). Thus, a professional accountant must act in diligent manner that should be in accordance with the professional and applicable standards while ensuring professional services. Confidentiality: The confidentially of the information should be respected by the professional accountant which they should not disclose to the third parties without specific or proper authority until there comes professional and legal duty or right for its disclosure (Maroun Gowar, 2013). Moreover, acquired confidential information due to professional and business relationships should not also have a personal usage. Professional Behaviour: The professional accountant must comply with the relevant regulation and laws and thereby avoid any kind of action that discredits their profession. Part B and C focus on the conceptual framework that requires the professional accountant in identifying, evaluating and addressing the threats in compliance with the basic principles (Ackers Eccles, 2015). If the identified threats are clearly insignificant then the professional accountant must apply the safeguards for either eliminating the threats or reducing them at an acceptable level so that there is no compromise with the fundamental principles. The professional account have the obligation of evaluating any threats in compliance with the fundamental principles provided the professional accountant knows the relationship or circumstances that might compromise the compliance with the basic principles. However, the professional account might unintentionally violate a provision of the code but such unintentional violation depends on the significance and nature of the matter might not compromise with the fundamental principles. However, once there is a discovery of the violation, pr ompt correction ensured with application of necessary safeguards. Thus, Part B and C of this code include such examples that illustrate the application of the conceptual framework. The examples are not an exhaustive list for all the circumstances experienced by the professional accountant that might lead to the creation of the threat of compliance with fundamental principles (Maroun, Coldwell Segal, 2014). However, some of the threats include self-interest threats, self-review threats, familiarity threats, advocacy threats and intimidation threats. It is important to note that a professional accountant should not only consider the quantitative factors but also consider the qualitative factors while considering the significance of threat. There have also been codes put forward for ethical resolution of conflict. In evaluation of the compliance with fundamental principles there might be instances when the professional accountant needs resolving a conflict in order to apply the fundamental principles (Apostolou, Dull Schleifer, 2013). Thus, while initiating a formal or an informal process for conflict resolution, a professional accountant must consider the following facts whether he initiates the resolution process alone or together with the others: Considering facts that are relevant Involvement of the ethical issues Relation of the fundamental principles with the matter in question The involved established internal procedures Undertaking an alternative course of action Having known the given issues, the professional accountant must determine the appropriate course of the action that remains consistent with the identified fundamental principles. The professional chartered accountant must also consider the consequences of the course of action. In case if a matter is not resolved, the professional chartered accountant must consult with the other appropriate people within the firm or seek necessary help from the employing organization for finding a resolution. While dealing with a conflict with or within the concerned organization, a professional accountant must ensure consultation with people charged with the organizational governance like the audit committee and the board of directors. It is necessary for the professional accountant to create a document relating to the issue involving the details of the discussions held or undertaken in the context of the issue. In case when a conflict remains unresolved, the professional chartered accountant might seek professional advice from the legal advisors and obtain necessary guidance on the maintenance of ethical issues without breaching the confidentiality (Lawson et al., 2013). For instance, a professional account might have encountered fraud for which reporting would result in breaching of the responsibility and confidentiality of the professional accountant. In such cases, the accountant must seek legal advice in determining the necessity of such a report. After trying all relevant possibili ties if the ethical conflict remains unresolved then the accountant must refuse in remaining associated with the matter the leads to the creation of the conflict. The professional accountant would consider depending upon the circumstances whether it would be appropriate of withdrawing from engagement team, or the specific assignment or completely resigning from the firm or employing organization. Where were the Ethics? The failures of corporate governance within South African state owned enterprises led to a serious turbulence in the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) (Walters, 2013). The acting chief executive of the agency fired recently following an allegation that his remuneration increased by over 350 percent. Shortly, the transport minister also dissolved the board. This is an instance of a shareholder undermining a board. This is acting as a common dynamic with the state owned enterprises of South Africa. The trend of regularly changing and chopping the state owned enterprise boards have become quite frequent in the previous few years. Some of the other examples include Airports Company of South Africa, South African Airways and Denel, the arms manufacturer. Poor Corporate Governance has also caused immeasurable damage to the state owned enterprises of South Africa (SOEs) that has warned the Institute of Directors of Southern Africa (IoDSA) (Thomas, 2014). The SOEs have a vital role in the South African since they help in providing national fundamentals that includes telecommunications, electricity, portable water, transport and sanitation. The South African President has ensured the appointment of the Presidential State-Owned Enterprises Review Committee meant for empowering the SOEs through good and directive governance. However, the ruling party has resulted in an increasing political meddling with the agency (Grossi, Papenfu Tremblay, 2015). 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