Freedom and Obligation: A report on Moral Regeneration

Message of support by the Deputy President

Foreword by the Deputy Minister

Preamble

The Nature and Extend of the Problem

Freedom and Obligation

Setting up a National Framework

Conclusion

Terms Related to Morals and Ethics

 

 

Message of support by Jacob Zuma Deputy, President of the Republic of South Africa

At our First Workshop on Moral Regeneration I made the plea that a second workshop or national conference be convened. I made that request on the basis of the limited time we then had to discuss a subject whose range and complexity became clearer as we grappled with it. My request was also informed by a wish to see an even broader representation and participation. I made the point then, and I wish to reiterate it now, that moral regeneration is one of the challenges that truly cut across the whole

In response to my plea, a Second Workshop was convened with great success in May. It is therefore with gratitude and a sense of pride in our nation that I welcome the publication of this report on the two workshops on Moral Regeneration. By holding these colloquia on the challenge of moral regeneration we have, in fact, confirmed that we are already traversing the path of renewing our value systems against an onslaught of social, moral and political decadence, which masquerades as modernity. We have interrogated the idea that the past, simply by having passed, is no longer instructive on good conduct and behaviour. We debated whether the present, by virtue of its currency, is right in everything. We attempted to chart the right way to a future of stability, growth and development for our nation.

Questions of right and wrong, good and evil – questions of ethical behaviour and moral values – are as pertinent for national survival as they were in the days of the Greek philosophers such as Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. They are still as critical as they were when the African National Congress reluctantly chose the path of the armed struggle and when liberation theologians declared apartheid a sin.

On behalf of the government of our country, I thank all the participants and salute the symposia for their illuminating contributions on an intangible issue that has implications for the very survival of our nation. Like good followers, our people have guided us, their leaders, as well as the entire nation on moral regeneration.

Best wishes

Jacob Zuma
Deputy President of South Africa

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Foreword by the Deputy Minister

It little profits a nation to boast about thousands of teachers, doctors, lawyers, nurses, priests, mechanics, engineers and all kinds of skilled persons if these are devoid of moral values. Did Nazi Germany not boast of a similarly skilled citizenry? Yet it was the same professional and skilled persons that were turned into monsters that sent helpless people to gas chambers, conducted experiments on human bodies without their consent and mercilessly killed people for being different from them.

It is for this reason that a democracy such as ours, which has emerged from the apartheid ashes, should be founded on sound moral values that will inculcate in each of us a sense of national pride, oneness and commitment to the common good. Our past as a nation is nothing to be entirely proud of, yet it could teach us a lesson or two as we shape a society in which a bright future for all under the sun is guaranteed. I concur with the Deputy President that the past cannot be instructive by virtue of it haunting us everywhere we are - we have to sift out of it what is good for the present and what we will never again want to see from it in our present and future.

We have to tell ourselves, for example, that racism will never again be part of our lives. We have to tell ourselves that violence and murder will never again be part of our lives. We have to tell ourselves that fraud, lies, dishonesty, etc., can never be part of the new South Africa. We have to convince ourselves that women, children, the physically weak and the poor will never again be taken advantage of. Unless we actively embrace the good, the positive, and inculcate it in our children and their offspring, these evils that are characteristic of our past will always be part of our society. The fight against crime, for example, is a futile exercise unless we help the crime prevention units by helping our people to make the right decisions from the start, that is, to distinguish between good and bad, right and wrong.

The document that is presented to you by the Moral Regeneration Committee reports on the two workshops that were held in February and May 2000, on the subject of moral regeneration. Note that these workshops, in which I personally participated, did not focus on moral degeneration but on regeneration. The aim was to work towards the establishment of proactive measures to ensure that our country does not degenerate into a moral slum. Naturally, the process had to start with an analysis of the present situation. Hence the first half of the report deals mainly with an analysis of the situation. While this should be kept at the back of your mind as you read the report, much focus should be paid on the planned campaign and future activities as articulated in the second part.

I personally join the throng of our national leaders who have called upon the nation to pay special attention to our morality. I think that this report will resource its readers with where people are presently and what possibilities are there for the future. As the title we have given it suggests, there is no freedom without the obligation to act responsibly.

Smangaliso Mkhatshwa
Deputy Minister of Education

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Preamble

The theme "Freedom and Obligation" summarises the ideas expressed at the two workshops on Moral Regeneration which were convened respectively on 29 February and 2-3 May 2000. A strong link between our freedom and the need to be moral and responsible citizens was made. This is in line with a growing consensus that the actualisation of the ideals of our struggle depends on all South Africans acting

Although the concern about the degenerating state of our nation's morality is shared by all South Africans, it is only a particular political party that took the initiative to mobilise for action. To some extent, the 1997 Moral Summit which comprised both religious communities and political parties laid the foundation for the present initiative. However, the immediate background to the first workshop is the February meeting between the State President, the Deputy State President and the Deputy Minister of Education in which deep concern about the worsening moral situation was expressed. When invitations to the workshops were sent out, their concern was confirmed by the overwhelming response from invitees across political, religious, economic, gender and racial spectra.

This report covers the work done at the above workshops. Like all reports, it only captures the salient points out of many points that were made in the two workshops that covered three days in total. Thus, it is an attempt to integrate all the views and sentiments expressed although for the sake of tidiness and narrative, these have been clustered under the themes that follow below.

At the first workshop, much time was devoted to the analysis of the problem. It was felt that unless the workshop was able to clearly define that which needed to be revived, no effective intervention strategy could be devised. Both participants and organisers were realistic about the magnitude of the task and they did not expect to find "quick-fix" solutions to the problem. Hence focus was on:

• naming the problem, that is, looking at what we meant by morality and moral degeneration (see definition of terms in this report) as well as looking at what went wrong,
• tracing the history of the problem and
• determining who to work with towards solutions (see list of possible partners in this report).

In drawing attention to the gravity of the situation in South Africa, the Deputy Minister of Education used the phrase: "sitting on a moral time-bomb". By this he meant that the longer we delayed in addressing the issue, the more threatening the situation would become.

Although the workshop did not aim at producing a single definition of morality, there was agreement that in the understanding of workshop participants, morality had nothing to do with the pietistic views that narrowed it down to, for example, drinking, smoking, premarital sexual relationships and such things. Instead, it had more to do with acting in the interests of the common good. While the former behaviour may be seen as unacceptable in some communities, in others, depending on their values and mores, it may be a non-issue. We looked for something more common among us: For example, rape, murder, fraud, etc., are not the kinds of behaviour that can be condoned in any "civilised" community or culture. This became our common point of departure.

The second workshop was intended to focus on putting establishing a national framework for moral regeneration. This would entail mainly, an identification of national priorities, action to be taken and setting up a Steering Committee to take the process forward. There was much overlap between the two workshops although the composition of participants had changed slightly. This confirmed the verisimilitude of the views expressed at the first workshop.

Among others, the need to involve all government departments, rebuild strong social support and family structures, turn our schools into moral environments, draw the business sector into discussion and for religious organisations to play a prominent role in moral regeneration was emphasised.

The ideas reflected in this report are therefore largely drawn from the latter workshop. They are grouped under the following major headings:

1. The nature and extent of the problem
2. Freedom and obligation
3. Setting a national framework and
4. Implementation strategy.

These give the report the narrative form in which it is presented. We hope that you will find it useful.

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1. The nature and extent of the problem

"Sitting on a moral time-bomb"

The phrase "sitting on a moral time-bomb", was used at the workshop by the Deputy Minister of Education. It captures the nature of the crisis that is threatening our nascent democracy. Unless we make a proactive move now, there is little

Why act now? Our country is passing through a period of transition towards a new and successful modern society. This affords us an opportunity not to miss, an opportunity to build a truly moral society, thereby turning the objectives of the struggle into achievements. However, as the former president of this country once put it, albeit in a different context "...In our striving for political and economic development, the ANC recognises that social transformation cannot be separated from spiritual transformation". Indeed, we cannot achieve our ideal society until we have shaken off our apartheid heritage which to a large extent is responsible for public immorality.

In the same way, no talk of moral degeneration or moral crisis in South Africa can make sense unless the history of our country is taken cognisance of. This helps to put the problem in a proper perspective. Ours is a history of oppression, of racial discrimination and dehumanisation, of poverty, of institutionalised- and counter-violence, of the breakdown of family life through mobility control laws and violence, and more importantly, the decision of the youth to take the responsibility of liberating our country upon themselves. This is all related to apartheid, which the workshop participants placed under the broad category of "colonialism".

In a sense, the situation we now have can be said to be what one participant referred to as "apartheid chickens coming home to roost". We are indeed reaping the fruits of our past, the fruits of a culture of social injustice, dehumanisation, dispossession, bannings, torture, imprisonment, detentions without trial, extra-legal executions, resettlements and public immorality.

However, as the question arose at the second workshop: are we to dwell on this past or are we to move on into a better future? This is a very relevant question because most social deviants tend to justify their anti-social behaviour by claiming to be products of an oppressive apartheid system. They now feel entitled to whatever they were never able to get before. In the final analysis, the reality is that we are sitting with a generation or two which needs community support structures in order for them to function in this new context. Some who are now young adults and parents were deprived of the security of a home and family life during their resistance of apartheid.

In a situation of struggle, the dominant culture is the culture of survival. While the political struggle itself was disciplined in that a certain code of conduct was followed by those who operated under the banner of political organisations, those who were confronted with hunger, cold, pain and homelessness daily had to devise means of ensuring their survival. In a culture of survival, ethics are often suspended in order to make room for anything that helps one to stay alive. An example of this is reflected in a personal account of one female participant at the first workshop who related:

I was told in the days of the "struggle", that to kill an informer was a noble thing to do and that stealing from the affluent whites was repossessing what was rightfully mine. I was forced by my experience to believe that, going against my Catholic upbringing. I now need to hear a voice in the opposite direction, in this new South Africa. It has not come forth.

Understandably, very few people have thought of the after-effects of the "war" on the youth that were in the "battle-fields" and the school dropouts who were not directly involved. In fact, very few would now want to think of the struggle as a civil war. Yet the conflict our society has just emerged from has left us with the same damage that a war situation would have left. Perhaps we should think of a less militaristic and more psychological phrase, "deroling ourselves as former strugglers". Our youth of the 1970s and 1980s had put themselves in the roles of "soldiers-in-trenches". Now, as young adults, some of them, like everyone else, have yet to make the transition to function as midwives in the birth of a new society. In other words, there is need for all to defend the gains of our struggle.

In all fairness, the workshop did not judge or apportion blame to anyone. Instead, it saluted the youth of yesterday for pursuing a "vocation to change history" at an early age. Some surpassed their parents in analysis and zeal. This, in

The ticking "moral time bomb" indicates that we have not begun to do what ought to have been done ten years ago. That is what it is about. The call to action is a proactive one, not necessarily a reaction to the crimes committed today. Of course these remind us of an aspect of our struggle which has not yet received attention.

Manifestations of the "time-bomb"

Participants drew attention to the possibility that some of the anti-social behaviour we have to deal with may have been imported by and promoted through the electronic media. Some, especially serious crimes, are according to some media reports, thought to have come with immigrants from the continent and overseas. However, the workshop did not judge but was concerned with getting to the root of the present crisis. The following lists give an indication of the many ways in which the moral crisis manifests itself in this country:

Common manifestations are:

• Murder
• Robbery and theft
• Rape
• Women and child abuse
• Domestic violence
• Drug trafficking
• Fraud and embezzlement of public funds
• Crooked business dealings

Manifestations that are more subtle than the above, yet more damaging to our social stability are:

• Devaluation of people
• Racism
• Undermining or abuse of the Bill of Rights
• Breakdown of family as a fundamental social institution
• The gap between the haves and have-nots
• Laziness
• Individualism and selfishness
• Lack of will to resist evil
• Lack of moral guidance and role models in the teaching profession
• Corruption in police and other civil services
• Dishonesty of some religious leaders
• Slow delivery to the poor
• Perverted religious beliefs

This is only a sample from a myriad of other manifestations that are found in our society. Participants did not think it necessary to give a longer shopping list. Already, what we see draws attention to a crisis that we have in our hands.

Notwithstanding this, participants at the first workshop took a realistic approach to the problem. They acknowledged that there were no "quick-fix" solutions and that one meeting only was not sufficient for an in-depth analysis and comprehension of the problem. Hence the first workshop led to the second and the second has identified the need to set a process in motion.

Attitudes of political and religious sectors

The issue of moral decay has surfaced in both political and religious speeches. However, up to the point at which the first workshop on moral regeneration was convened, no serious action had been taken. Participants noted that prior to the first workshop, the moral summit was organised by politicians. The present initiative on moral regeneration is also the initiative of politicians. Ironically, the religious sector which should have taken the initiative, seems to have taken a back seat. A concern was raised, particularly by participants who were drawn from the religious sector.

It was noted that everybody wants to be in a position of power. Yet not everyone is conscientious about the duty to instil good values and morals in our society. Positive values and ideals are taught others, yet those who teach them do not themselves live them out. An example of this is talk of fellowship by religious communities while they themselves are divided according to their religious identities. This possibly explains why moral summits are convened by politicians and not by the religious leadership. There seems to be a lack of concerted and co-ordinated action from most religious leaders in promoting the struggle against immoral behaviour.

The common tendency among both secular and religious leadership however, is to react to sporadic incidents. Their reaction condemns specific actions but no corrective alternative is ever provided. Moral regeneration should not be seen in a negative light. It is an attempt to cultivate a proactive way of addressing the problem.

The attitude of the private sector

Perceptions about the attitude of the private sector towards moral issues caused concern. However, there was no representative of organized business in the workshop. The sector referred to was defined as all business owned by individuals or groups of individuals for their own benefit.

One of the perceptions about the private sector is what appears to be its disregard for its clients. In this regard banks and insurance companies were named. Given the experiences of clients with such financial institutions, it was concluded that unless such institutions proved themselves otherwise, the notion of private sector efficiency was a myth.

Another perception is that big business puts profits before people. This may be seen in the continuous loss of jobs while offshore investments are increasing. Concern was also raised about the blatant exploitation that is manifested, for example, in the meagre salaries paid to hardworking people and the creation of a "permanent casuals" category of workers. The latter are usually women.

It was however, stressed that since the private sector was not represented at the workshop, the above perceptions only represented the "outsider's" view of the private sector. It was therefore important that the private sector should be part of future activities so that they could resource participants with their side of the story.

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II. Freedom and obligation

The road to freedom

The "long road to freedom", to echo Nelson Mandela's words, constitutes the backdrop of our campaign for a moral regeneration. On that road, we gained in some ways and lost in others. For example, the youth of the 1970s and 1980s had been brutalised by the apartheid policy although some survived the brutalisation. Thus while we fought for the creation of a democratic non-racial and non-sexist society, we lost some of our core values, which could serve as ingredients for such a society. Today, yesterday's youth and their children today are expected to function "normally" when no rehabilitation has taken place.

The price of freedom was very high: Some lost their loved ones, others lost their own lives. Some lost materially, others lost schooling opportunities. Some lost family life, others lost homes or friends. Common among us all as South Africans is that we all had a spiritual loss of one form or another. One participant talked of "spiritual poverty". This refers to a loss of moral values and a sense of purpose. A nation without moral values is a nation without a soul. Hence in the recent past, we have fallen prey to all kinds of influences.

But, when we embarked on the road to freedom, the goal was to create a different society from the one we knew - a moral one. We even fantasised about the ethics of such a society. Yet, at the point at which we have to actualise our vision, we seem to have lost it. Participants at the workshop were clear that we cannot enjoy our freedom unless our society is morally conducive to that. Hence each structure in society, each sector or institution, has a moral obligation to play a role.

Obligation of our freedom

Freedom from one thing has to imply freedom for another. We have always said, in South Africa, that we wanted to be free from oppression, discrimination, hunger and violence so that we could create an alternative society. Our rejection of past negatives was prefaced, by our former president, with the words: "Never again..."

Workshop participants have realised that we have not always been faithful to our ideals. We have succumbed to the above-mentioned behaviour. We have compromised our communal values. We are now compelled to recover and restore our key values if we are to benefit from our hard-won freedom. Participants talked of a need to revive UBUNTU values. Thereby, they meant that Africans should recover the long lost religio-socio-economic values by which pre-colonial communities of this continent lived and which impacted on every sphere of their lives, including the political systems. It was thought that UBUNTU might have an answer for socio-economic relationships and for the individual's public and private behaviour.

The feeling was that colonialism has robbed the African continent of its own values. For example, xenophobia, which is a contentious issue, is un-African. It is symptomatic of our western point of departure. The African approach would be to welcome fellow human beings for the value they have, and the thought of material implications would be secondary. That was UBUNTU.

In short, we are not free unless we begin to behave responsibly. That is an obligation. Different sectors looked, in commissions, at how best they could promote this obligation. What follows below are summaries of discussions and suggestions of the four commissions the two workshops had:

Religious Sector

In exploring possibilities of participating in the campaign for a moral society, participants drawn from the religious sector first did some introspection. They criticised the sector for exchanging the African spirituality for a foreign one. Manifestations of this foreign spirituality are individualism, which is fast becoming a way of life in the African continent, loss of respect between adults and young people, greed, dishonesty, loss of work ethic and materialism.

This commission also acknowledged the failure of the religious sector to be proactive. It had portrayed itself as the sole custodian of moral values. Now it has to acknowledge that that has been incorrect, there are other role players. If it were not so, things "would not have gone wrong" and the moral regeneration workshops would not have been called by politicians ahead of them.

Having done this, the commission drew attention to the fact that all is not that gloomy: there are both negatives and positives. Bad moral behaviour in our context is the by-product of the daily struggles for survival. However, we do not need it, especially in the new South Africa. Alternatives must be found.

The commission therefore saw the specific role of the religious sector as that of,

• resuscitating African spirituality, paying special attention to the forgotten African values and disseminating these through education, the liturgy and the media,
• developing a culture of responsibility, emphasising the role of the family and the importance of family values,
• training for family, youth, children and adults on problem solving and making the right decisions,
• helping adherents to appreciate backgrounds of those different from them and to celebrate diversity,
• participating in globalisation debates and to counter its negative impact on the poor,
• questioning any morally baseless faith,
• focusing attention on children, especially the homeless, and
• lessening guilt preaching.

This commission concluded its discussion with the words: "We are not brought to this earth to see through people but to see people through". These words were to be echoed by several other participants later.

Education

The commission on education had the apartheid past as its point of departure. It saw the exclusion and distortion of Black History and heroes as a launching pad for breaking down the barriers created by apartheid and an opportunity to eradicate the disadvantages that went with it. Hence separate schools are seen to be perpetuating disadvantage and racism, and are therefore morally indefensible in this day and age.

The voice of parents on what kind of education their children should or should not receive is non existent. It appears as if parental authority has been dethroned by both their children and the school system. Children who are at boarding schools far away from parents, for example, lose touch with the family discipline.

On the other hand, some teachers no longer teach children about what is acceptable behaviour. In other words, they do not help them to exercise independent judgement on "right" and "wrong". At the same time, some parents have abdicated their responsibility of nurturing their children and left this task to the teachers as though education does not begin at home.

The low self esteem, which was instilled by apartheid in black people, can be corrected through the rewriting of the South African history, to include all our heroes. This should restore self confidence.

Having reflected thus, the commission went on to look at what the education sector specifically, could contribute in the campaign,

• first, it endorsed the principle of embarking on a clearly visible campaign in the manner of the "Arrive Alive" campaign. The Department of Education could play a leading role in this and place the campaign on TV, at schools and homes,
• in the short term, regular community based workshops on moral regeneration could be organised,
• moral education is already included in the school curriculum. This has to be highlighted and implemented as a long term investment,
• other educational institutions have to be brought on board. However, they have to convince themselves first about the importance of acting morally,
• creating a family base for moral education to take place.

The commission added that a steering committee was necessary for the implementation stage. This suggestion was taken up later, as this will become clear below.

Public and Private sector

This commission defined the Public Sector as government and the Private Sector as business as defined above. In other words, the commission looked at the role of government on the one hand and of business on the other as separate entities.

The government was seen to be the overarching custodian of the nation's morality through the Constitution, legislation and policies. Such instruments are intended to draw parameters for a morally sound nation. The government is morally obliged to ensure that they do not inadvertently promote behaviour that is incompatible with the agreed upon moral values of society. Hence over the past six years, government has identified national priorities.

The need for the government to promote the common good and moral renewal was stressed. It was suggested that government promotes moral renewal through,

• national and provincial legislatures,
• schools,
• political leadership,
• national symbols, and
• public broadcaster. The public broadcaster should in fact, be mandated and empowered to contribute, through its programmes, to the quest for moral regeneration.

Regarding the private sector, the commission found that since companies and corporations raise money from the public, through investment at the stock exchange, they have certain obligations to the public. One of those is to ensure that a moral and value driven relationship with the public exists and that the money is used responsibly. In other words, no money is totally private, the public has some control over the money raised by the private sector from it as well. This point was stressed especially in the light of allegations of corrupt dealings between willing public officials and some sections of the private sector.

Another concern raised was what appeared to be the stifling role of business on the media. Recent hearings on racism in the media by the Human Rights Commission were cited as one example. The other was the withdrawal of business advertisements from the SABC TV when the SABC embarked on programmes that promoted national interests. If apartheid was strengthened by the business sector, should they not do so the better for our inclusive democracy, which is good and constructive?

Some suggestions that emerged from the commission included the following:

• business need to be brought closer to the public sector, to steer together the national priorities as a matter of common interest,
• while all government departments should be involved in the process, the commission particularly singled out the Departments of Education, Arts and Culture, Science and Technology and the security ministries,
• the need to educate the public on the accountability of state departments and the parastatals such as the SABC and the HSRC. This also raised the need to monitor the implementation of legislation,
• the media must make efforts to change attitudes towards teaching and learning,
• the media must play both an educational and moral role and not be guided by business interests at the expense of the society,
• both government and media must promote patriotism.

The Media

At the workshop the Media was represented by the electronic media only. Plans to bring the print media on board are still underway. However, participants, both non-media and media, saw both as belonging to the same sector. What was said of one component and to one component applied to the other as well.

Apart from looking at constraints and the limited scope in which the media is forced by business interests to move, the commission saw the media as an "all rounder". In other words, the media does not have to produce knowledge. Its duty is to disseminate the knowledge produced by others. This means that its task is to disseminate what all the others have produced and not to discriminate against any of them. Herein lies the ethical question for the media: Is it right or wrong to ignore certain forms of knowledge on the grounds that it is not in line with the industry's business interests? Should the criterion not be the promotion of the common good of all in society?

The commission then suggested that the media's role in the campaign should be to involve itself in the efforts of all stakeholders with the view to promote the campaign.

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III. Setting up a national framework

Although there was a lot of overlap between the first and second workshops, the primary goal of the second workshop was to set up a national framework for moral regeneration. Sessions were structured with that goal in mind. The results of discussions are deliberately scattered throughout this report. However, specific recommendations, which help to focus in a specific direction, are clustered below under specific headings.

Identification of priorities

The question of choosing priorities proved very difficult. Two questions that constantly came to the fore were:

• what should be included and what should be left out?
• who determines the national agenda?

A long list of national priorities was then drawn up, out of which the following were classified as urgent:

• The interpretation of and education of the public about the list of social values as they are enumerated in the preamble of the national constitution. In addition, transparency, responsibility, self-reliance, accountability and the work ethic should be highlighted.

The urgent need to monitor the implementation of legislation that is aimed at inculcating fairness, transparency and accountability and ending corruption. It was felt that the present battery of laws was sufficient for the purpose and that there is no need for parliament to make more laws. The problem lies with those who are tasked with implementation.

• The need to establish shared values with the view to creating a South African Culture. This might mean "stepping out" of our own parochial cultures or transforming them.
• The need to find a mechanism of rehabilitating the generation of the struggle.
• The need to promote patriotism through national symbols, history and cultural activities.
• The need to educate about democracy and the Bill of Rights.
• The need to tackle racism.
• The need to transform schools, most of which are currently faced with the problem of a moral decay, into moral environments.
• The need to conscientise the nation on its moral obligation to the HIV-AIDS sufferers.
• The need to address the issue of poverty.

It should be emphasised that these are priorities that the workshop participants identified for the moral regeneration campaign. They are not a national agenda. However, since they cover a variety of issues that are of common concern to all in this country, a case could be made for them to become part of the national agenda. For example, they could feature regularly in parliamentary and provincial legislature debates.

The national moral regeneration campaign

There was a strong recommendation from all four commissions, that the best way of taking the message to the rest of the nation was through a national campaign. In the past, campaigns have worked well because they sensitised the nation to the critical issues facing it. The workshop did not envisage a situation in which the moral regeneration campaign will be ignored when defenceless people are killed or raped daily, when fraudsters continue to bring our public image to disrepute and when the rich continue to take advantage of the poor. These make the campaign a national issue.

It was agreed that the campaign for moral regeneration will consist of the following:

• Setting up of a co-ordinating committee,
• Negotiating with print and electronic media for regular input,
• Starting dialogue with identified possible partners,
• Promoting campaign through a simple (A5) leaflet,
• Organising a workshop for all government departments,
• Organising a joint national conference with religious communities, and
• Training of community facilitators through workshops.

Partners in the campaign

The principle of inclusivity applied. However, it was felt that when structures and people are named specifically, their attention would be drawn to the fact that they are specifically invited to participate. The following were therefore targeted as prospective partners:

• The Presidency
• All government departments
• All political parties
• Organised Labour
• Organised Business
• The Youth
• Student Organisations
• Religious Communities
• Traditional institutions, e.g., CONTRALESA
• Informal institutions, e.g., "stockvels", burial societies
• NGOs
• Sport
• Tertiary institutions
• The Media

The Steering Committee

Following a short debate about who should take the process forward, it was agreed that establishing another organisation was unnecessary at this point. However, some co-ordinating team was necessary. The SABC and the national Department of Education who had been co-ordinating on an ad hoc basis were formally mandated to take the process forward. In addition, the SA Chapter of African Renaissance, which also has a programme on morality, was also requested to join the team. The present Committee, which is headed by the Deputy Minister of Education, therefore consists of the SABC, The Department of Education, the SA Chapter of African Renaissance and an expert.

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IV. Implementation strategy

Phase I: Rooting the campaign in society

The first phase of the campaign consists of a drive to root it in society through a process of consultation and negotiation. The aim is to bring on board as many role players as possible and to profile the campaign before it is launched. Although the concern about moral decay has occasionally appeared in political and religious speeches, the word has not reached as many people as it should. Many of those who have heard of morality or moral decay do not know what those terms are about. However, it cannot be denied that many people want good to prevail in this country.

Negotiations with organisations and a conscientisation of the general public were seen as a matter of urgency. The Media (print and electronic) are expected to tackle the campaign with great enthusiasm. Other means such as producing and distributing pamphlets and "easy to read" publications on the subject will also be employed.

Phase II: Establisment of shared values

In the second phase, which may overlap with the first, the campaign will focus on developing what were identified as shared values by all South Africans. Our past has left us focusing only on our differences. A corrective of that past would be to flood the minds of the nation with the opposite of that by teaching the opposite of what the apartheid propaganda cultivated in our minds. The commissions found that there is a lot in common among South Africans of all races, classes, religions, etc. It is when we begin to share these and do things together, that the apartheid myth, which still rules the minds of many, will finally be buried.

Regular workshops for empowerment and mutual exposure around common objectives will be embarked upon. It is hoped that out of such workshops will grow facilitators who could go back to their constituencies and provide the same training.

Phase III: Focus on priorities

The list of priorities that is tabled above is very long. Most of the items on the list need realistic planning and scheduling. A campaign of the proposed nature cannot begin there; it has to begin with what someone referred to as "doables". Besides, the campaign is of a proactive nature. But a number of what have been identified as priorities border on reactions to incidents.

In the third phase then, ongoing work on the list will begin. Some of it may be "outsourced" to specialists, for example, work on family structures, which is currently done by the Department of Welfare. We will need specialist views on how to deal with HIV/AIDS from a moral perspective and so forth. Long term planning on all these will have to be jointly done by several government departments.

Future on-going focal priorities consist of, among others, the following:

• Abuse of women and children
• Investigation of insurance companies and banks
• HIV-AIDS and our obligations as a nation
• Patriotism and shared symbols
• Racism and moral implications
• Spiritual poverty and nurture
• Restoration of the family as a fundamental social institution
• Production of literature for use in schools and homes

V. Conclusion

The committee concludes this report by drawing attention to the following few points:

First the report puts forward some proposals, which are possible and easy to implement. We therefore appeal to all South Africans to take these seriously, debate them and act upon them. Pursuant to this a request for a debate on some of these in Parliament is not asking too much. In fact, such a debate at that level, with wide coverage by the media will make a huge difference in our nation.

Secondly, no activities or projects have been costed in this report. It is usually the financial considerations that stifle potentially good work. We thought that starting with "cost-free" activities would enable us to get the campaign off the ground soon. For example, holding meetings with local structures does not need money although it might be demanding in terms of time. At some point though, a relatively small budget for the campaign is going to be necessary. When that time comes, we will appeal to all who can help, to finance it. Please support that appeal cheerfully.

Thirdly, our basic premise is that proactive measures have to be implemented in order for the campaign to succeed. We cannot expect the police to be social workers, parents and everything. Their task is to help apprehend lawbreakers (that is, to act upon immoral behaviour) whereas ours is to ensure that there are less or no lawbreakers (that is, helping people to make ethical decisions from the start).

TOGETHER, LET US BUILD A MORALLY HEALTHY NATION

Terms related to morals and ethics

Morality

This refers to right or wrong actions. In other words, it defines the choices made by an individual or groups of individuals. Some people judge the act in terms of whether it is in the interest of the common good or not. This term is sometimes confused with ethics, a reflection on the conduct or behaviour of a person.

Example 1

If a person or persons decide to abort their child, that is a choice they make. However, the specific moral question to raise in this case is: Is it wrong to abort when the child is likely to suffer if allowed to live? The question that is raised by the choice or action is a moral one.

Example 2

Another example is the question of affirmative action: A company makes a choice to employ black persons rather than whites. Some white people begin to appeal to consciences, labelling affirmative action as reversed racism. This in turn raises a moral question: Is it wrong to institute affirmative action? Is affirmative action racism in reverse? This too, is a moral question to the extent that it raises the question of wrong or right decisions.

Ethics

This term is related to morality. It is sometimes confused with morality or behaviour. However, experts in the discipline would argue that ethics has to do with (theoretical) principles that inform the (right or wrong) actions one embarks on. In the examples used above, the question raised was whether it is right or wrong to commit certain acts. However, if we were to reflect further on the question, the next question would be: What makes an act right or wrong? This question, which goes behind a particular act, is an ethical question to the extent that the answer(s) resulting from it might form a theory that will govern behaviour even in other situations. In fact, at this point, one can talk of values as opposed to socially unacceptable acts. It is important to know why one should behave in one way and not in another especially when our focus is on nation building. It covers social, medical, legal and environmental issues.

Example

There are too many industrial strikes in different industries of the country. Whether these are legal or not, one might have to ask whether embarking on a strike every time there is disagreement between employers and employees is a correct act or not (a moral question). The next question might be: Why is it wrong or right to do so? (ethical question). One answer is that that such acts may diminish investor confidence, which will impact negatively on the economy of a young democracy like ours, which in turn, might have grave consequences for the delivery of the needs of the poor.

Mores

The customs and norms of a particular culture determine the way one acts. We refer to these customs as mores. In most cases, these mores are used to determine the rightness or wrongness of an act whereas they are only an expression of one's culture and should not necessarily determine the rightness or wrongness of an act.

Example

Some people complain about the way presenters of TV 1 dress up before the nation. However, they do so informed by their own cultural standards. There may not be anything wrong with the short dresses they wear or their dreadlocks. Yet, some people's cultural expectations make their appearance wrong. Mores, however, only serve to enforce certain behaviour in a particular group but they do not help the individual to use discretion in a broader (macro) context.

Ethical egoism

Judging the act or behaviour by whether it is in the interest of one's welfare or not. This is known as "ethical egoism".

Example

The fact that cultural mores are almost obligatory in a particular group does not preclude conflict. Look again at the example of TV 1 presenters: their behaviour is in conflict with the expected behaviour by some, depending on their mores. However, the presenters themselves use a different instrument of measuring the rightness or wrongness of their behaviour. It is in the interests of their own welfare. What is wrong about it then?

Ethical Relativism

Here, a question is raised about whether there is a truth underlying that which is seen as morally right or wrong. In other words, who determines what is right or wrong? Ethical relativism then is the theory that ethical judgements, including judgements of moral right and wrong, are relative rather than absolute. Some argue that the individual who judges the situation determines what the rightness or wrongness of the act is. Others argue that culture determines what is right or wrong (see discussions on mores and ethical egoism above).

Utility

While ethical egoism focuses on the welfare of the individual, utility focuses on the usefulness of the act in society. In other words, the act has to bring good into existence in order for it to be judged as good. If it brings harm into existence, then it is bad moral behaviour. The action here is judged in terms of the greatest benefit it has for the greatest number of people.

Example

Giving to the poor brings about good. Theft harms. Which of the two actions is right, which is wrong? Acting in the interests of others is almost always perceived to be a good act.

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