PREMIER 'S INPUT
Madame Chairperson.
Our society demands that the behaviour of professionals be guided by codes of conduct.
Doctors, engineers, teachers, architects, pharmacists and others must abide by codes of conduct. More often those who are adamant that these professionals be held to rigid codes of conduct are themselves reluctant to have any such codes. As representatives of the people we must resist the temptation to shoot down suggestions of a code of ethics.
Our every move, our every word, our every action is watched carefully. Not only by those who elected us but by all those who have an interest in good governance.
Now good governance goes hand in hand with transparency and accountability. Only those who have something to hide will find fault with disclosure of financial interests. Surely there is nothing wrong in imposing on those who hold public office strict guidelines on how to conduct themselves.
The public expects us to perform our duties and powers diligently and honestly. They expect us to act in a manner that is consistent with the integrity of the office we hold.
When Moses and the children of Israel wandered through the desert I believe they knew right from wrong. But still their behaviour had to be regulated because it is human nature to at times a swipe at authority.
Citizens must have something they can turn to when we misrepresent them. They must be able to challenge us when we steal from them, when we treat them with disdain. That's why codes of ethics are needed.
How many times have we read about some government officials having embezzled money intended for the poor? Lots of times. One almost have the feeling that for some people our ascendancy to power meant a chance to enrich ourselves.
A lot of negative sentiments exist about the conduct of some workers in the public sector. Lack of commitment to servicing the community by some in the public sector and corrupt practices has created a bad image for the public sector.
Those responsible for betraying the people's trust in this way, are also discrediting the tens of thousands of dedicated public sector workers who selflessly, every day, provide services to our people on a daily basis.
To paraphrase Pluto: some of our servants do service for a present.
Chairperson, the fact that Pluto mentioned this hundreds of years ago is a clear indication that corruption is as old as government itself.
But that does not make it something tolerable. It is today as deplorable as it was thousands of years ago.
Before 1994 most peace-loving South Africans fought hard to dislodge apartheid. With the collapse of the previous racist government, those very people who occupied the trenches were called upon to govern.
These required a different moral ethos and outlook. It meant more responsibility, more loyalty and a new form of patriotism. These collapse of the old order and ushering in of the new one necessitates a re-orientation of a nation's worldview.
Now in a situation where corruption was still is rampant, some could not resist the temptation of throwing morals, norms and values overboard.
Whereas our guiding principles in the trenches were the will and aspirations of the people, some public servants came under a heavy obligation to weigh their discretionary powers against their effectiveness in serving the public with integrity.
Selfish pursuits replaced human interdependence would replace. Suspicion replaced mutual trust and greed soon overtook just sharing. We seem to be consumed by a devilish passion to place self above the people. Something is only right when it benefits me, seem to have replaced popular slogan of an injury to one is an injury to all.
We cannot afford turning a blind eye to the perpetrators of evil stealing from the already poor. But it must all start in the mind.
If we all agree with the President when he says virtue and good ethical behaviour in the public sector is not inherently resident in the minds of public officials, we need to do something to remedy the situation.
On occasion Justice Oputa, of the Federal Court of Nigeria had this to say:
“Nothing will happen in our nation, in our society, which did not first happen in our minds. If wrong is rampant, if indiscipline is rife, if corruption is the order of the day, we have to search our individual minds for that is where it all starts.”
Is it not about time that we question the lure of the lap of luxury at state expense?
Perpetrators of corrupt practice in both the public and private sectors must be severely punished for contributing to this moral mayhem, which has been allowed to creep into the fabric of our society.
Zero tolerance must be offered to the parasites of our land who have scorned the public interest and sought their own self enrichment at state expense, for its is against them and against the evil culture they seek to perpetrate that we must continually rebel.
The men and women I lead in the province are fully behind the Code of Ethics. I believe I speak on behalf of the people of the province when I say there is no better time to introduce the code of the ethics than now.
I thank you.