SA suffers from moral recession

April 22 2013 at 09:00am By THEMBANI MBADLANYANA

 

 

It is sad to witness the moral bankruptcy that has bedevilled South Africa. Our country is slowly sliding into an abyss in most forms of human persuasion, be it political, economic or social. To appreciate the fact that this country is in a moral crisis, one does not need to be a sociologist or an ardent learner of ethics, neither does one need to fully understand Immanuel Kant’s views on moral philosophy.

 

A quick perusal of our daily newspapers will show you that South Africa is suffering from a severe recession, and it’s not an economic one this time around, but a moral one. Our country’s stock of “moral capital” is at an all time low.

 

In an article titled “The dangers of a moral recession”, Jim Gordon writes that a moral recession happens “when public expectations of moral accountability, personal integrity, and some evidence of altruism, are not only disappointed, but made to look ridiculous”.

 

I would add, it also happens when a society’s moral ground is shaking, when the society is failing to differentiate between right and wrong, when political power is divorced from moral legitimacy and when the moral compass of the society is pointing to a wrong direction.

 

Inspiring

 

Many inspiring and positive changes have happened and are happening in South Africa. Millions have access to clean drinking water, they have a roof over their heads, they have a very progressive constitution that protects and safeguards the rights of all, including the most vulnerable – women, children and minorities.

However, amid all these positive developments, there is a more worrisome and pressing issue, the moral recession that, regardless of its huge implications for the future of the country, continues to receive less attention from those in power and from different societal structures such as families, schools and churches.

 

This moral recession manifests itself in different ways. If it is not through public officials looting from state coffers, it is through men proving their “manhood” by meting out violence to women and children.

Lately, a day doesn’t go by without hearing about the arrest of a local councillor or politician for helping himself to public funds, without hearing news of a gang-rape, teachers sleeping with students, young men raping the elderly or our law enforcers brutally meting out their own forms of justice to innocent citizens.

 

The rich, the powerful, and the politically connected do not see any wrongdoing in conspiring against the poor (tender allocation) and they continue remorselessly with their political subterfuge (read Nkandlagate, Travelgate and arms deal).

 

As millions of South Africans are swimming in the sea of poverty (almost half of South Africans are living below the poverty line, surviving on just over R500 a month), our politicians at local level see no wrong in enriching only themselves and their kith and kin with the money intended for service delivery.

 

According to Auditor-General Terence Nombembe, 155 of the 283 municipalities received a qualified audit, disclaimer, adverse opinion, or simply didn’t submit their financial statements in time. Very few people in our local, provincial and national spheres of government are noble men of virtue and honour.

 

Very few seem to acknowledge and appreciate the wrongfulness of their actions and the resultant impact on the moral fibre of the country.

 

What compounds the problem, is that in a morally bankrupt South Africa, the rich, the powerful and the politically connected get away with their wrongful or unlawful acts without facing the full might of the law.

 

We see a miscarriage of justice in broad daylight.

 

Those in the extremities of the economic and the political system are, by commission or omission, denied their right to access public goods in general – justice in particular.

 

To make matters worse, our societal institutions (such as families, schools and churches) which are supposed to be the custodians of our shared moral values, are not helping either. Instead, they are the ones that contribute to moral degeneration. It is not uncommon to read stories of pastors who are molesting young boys and raping young girls.

 

Fail

 

More often than not, South African churches, schools and families fail dismally in their duty to provide society with an accepted moral framework that can be used to work out what actions are good and bad, right and wrong.

Parents and communities decide to be silent when small boys arrest their bright future with drugs while their small sisters are fooling around with sugar daddies like Kenny Kunene.

 

We are all to blame for this moral recession. Our government’s moral regeneration movement has failed dismally.

 

What needs to be done then? We should start asking very serious questions about the moral fibre of our country.

 

We should be asking ourselves, where is our moral compass pointing?.................

 

 

* Mbadlanyana is a research specialist in the Sustainable Development Programme of the Africa Institute of South Africa (AISA)