Articles

On 18 July 2026, South Africans will join the world in commemorating the birthday of South Africa’s first democratically elected President, Nelson Mandela, affectionately known by his clan name, Madiba. As we have done since the United Nations declared 18 July Nelson Mandela Day in 2009, we will once again reflect on the values that defined his leadership: integrity, humility, service, reconciliation and respect for human dignity.

The theme for this year’s commemoration is: “It is still in our hands to combat poverty and inequality.” That theme could not be more appropriate.

Perhaps Madiba’s most enduring lesson is one we discuss far too little. Throughout his public life, Madiba demonstrated that a prosperous and just society requires both strong values and strong institutions.

His leadership reflected a philosophy that combined respect for human dignity with respect for constitutional governance, accountability and the rule of law. Human dignity required accountability. Freedom required responsibility. Compassion required consequences. Rights required obligations.

Yet, 32 years into our constitutional democracy, South Africa continues to grapple with governance failures, corruption, declining trust in institutions and uneven service delivery. Numerous commissions of inquiry have laid bare the extent to which the promise of a better life for all has been undermined by poor leadership, weak accountability and ethical failure. Recent revelations emerging from the Madlanga Commission have further reminded us that institutional decay is neither theoretical nor distant.

This reality compels us to ask ourselves: Where did we go wrong? How did we get here?

The challenge before us is not simply political, economic or regulatory. It is cultural. It is rooted in how individuals conduct themselves across every sphere of society. Because of this, the solution lies in resetting the collective psyche that shapes individual behaviour, organisational culture and, ultimately, institutional performance.

THE ERA OF ETHICAL DRIFT

One useful lens to understand South Africa’s challenges is the phenomenon that ethics and psychology scholars describe as ethical drift.

Ethical drift seldom occurs through dramatic events. Rather, it emerges incrementally as standards are lowered, misconduct is rationalised, accountability becomes selective and small compromises become accepted practices. Over time, behaviour that was once considered unacceptable becomes tolerable, what is tolerated becomes normalised, and what is normalised ultimately shapes organisational and societal culture.

In many respects, South Africa has not experienced a wholesale rejection of its values. Rather, we have witnessed a gradual departure from them.

We see it when public resources are diverted from their intended purpose. We see it when underperformance is excused rather than corrected. Blaming the legacy of Apartheid is the escape route of choice for many public officials. We see it when integrity is expected from others but negotiated for ourselves. We see it when silence becomes easier than speaking up.

Alongside ethical drift, we have also experienced what I would describe as ubuntu drift.

Ubuntu teaches that our humanity is interconnected and that the wellbeing of the individual is inseparable from the wellbeing of the community. Yet increasingly, self-interest has displaced collective responsibility. Transactional relationships have replaced stewardship. Personal gain has too often superseded institutional purpose.

Ubuntu drift occurs when we continue to profess the value of ubuntu while behaving as though our obligations to others are secondary to our own interests. The result is not merely institutional decline. It is the erosion of trust. Yet trust remains the foundation upon which both democracies and organisations depend.

THE INDIVIDUAL AS THE STARTING POINT

Whenever corporate scandals emerge, public funds are misappropriated or service delivery fails, attention naturally turns towards organisations and institutions.

Yet institutions do not act independently; they are shaped by the people who lead, manage and serve within them. Every major organisational success or failure can ultimately be traced back to individual choices, behaviours and decisions. Organisational culture is therefore not an abstract concept but the collective expression of individual conduct.

When individuals act with integrity, ethical culture takes root. When compromise is tolerated, culture itself becomes compromised. When accountability is expected, excellence becomes the standard. When misconduct is ignored, dysfunction becomes entrenched. Over time, conduct hardens into habit; habit shapes culture; culture becomes practice; and practice ultimately determines outcomes.

This is why accountability does not begin with regulators, auditors, investigators or disciplinary processes. It begins with the individual.

UBUNTU, ACCOUNTABILITY AND THE RULE OF LAW

Madiba understood that dignity and accountability must coexist. Dignity without accountability cannot sustain democracy, while accountability without dignity cannot sustain trust.

South Africa’s constitutional jurisprudence has long recognised ubuntu as a value that informs dignity, fairness, justice and reconciliation. Ubuntu was never intended to replace accountability; it gives accountability moral meaning.

The rule of law reminds us that standards must be applied consistently and that no individual is above accountability. Ubuntu reminds us that even in the exercise of accountability, human dignity must remain paramount. Together, these principles provide the ethical and institutional foundations upon which trust, legitimacy and sustainable organisational success depend.

CULTURE: THE LINK BETWEEN VALUES AND PERFORMANCE

Most organisations possess policies, procedures, governance frameworks and codes of conduct. Culture determines whether those policies remain documents or become reality.

Where people fear speaking up, risks remain hidden. Where performance standards are applied inconsistently, credibility suffers. Where leaders prioritise short-term results over long-term integrity, organisational trust begins to erode.

The difference between high-performing institutions and those that struggle is often not found in strategic plans or governance frameworks, but in the culture that shapes everyday decision-making. Culture manifests in the choices people make when facing pressure, uncertainty or competing interests, particularly when formal oversight is absent.

WHY CULTURE MATTERS FOR SERVICE DELIVERY AND PERFORMANCE

Too often, ethics and accountability are viewed as compliance matters rather than performance drivers. The reality is quite the opposite.

Culture influences every aspect of organisational effectiveness. In the public sector, a strong accountability culture influences how public resources are managed, how decisions are made and how services are delivered to citizens. When integrity is embedded, resources are utilised more effectively, decisions are made in the public interest and service delivery outcomes improve.

In the private sector, culture affects customer experience, employee engagement, operational effectiveness and corporate reputation.

Ultimately, ethical conduct and organisational performance are not separate objectives. They are mutually dependent. Institutions that consistently do the right things tend to perform better over the long term. When institutions perform better, society benefits.

SHIFTING ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE: FROM INTENTION TO ACTION

Culture cannot be transformed through slogans, posters or annual ethics declarations. It requires intentional and measurable intervention.

Organisations must first understand the gap between their stated values and actual behaviours. They must identify where ethical drift has occurred, where accountability is weak and where cultural risks are emerging.

Leaders must then model the standards they expect from others. Employees quickly learn whether values genuinely matter or merely exist as corporate rhetoric.

Organisations must create safe mechanisms for speaking up, ensure accountability is consistent, align incentives with desired behaviours and continuously monitor culture as rigorously as they monitor financial performance.

Most importantly, they must recognise that culture change is fundamentally about mindset, not compliance.

PREVENTING ETHICAL DRIFT

Ethical cultures do not emerge by accident. They require deliberate and consistent reinforcement.

Organisations wishing to prevent ethical drift should conduct regular culture and ethics assessments; measure employee trust, leadership credibility and speak-up behaviour; hold leaders accountable for how results are achieved, not merely whether they are achieved; create psychologically safe environments that encourage constructive challenge; align incentives with organisational values; monitor ethical risk indicators as closely as financial and operational indicators; and continuously reinforce organisational purpose and stakeholder responsibility.

Because ethical drift occurs gradually, often below the level of conscious awareness, preventing it requires equal intentionality. Organisations that wish to sustain ethical cultures must continuously reinforce desired behaviours, monitor cultural indicators and ensure that leadership actions consistently align with organisational values.

THE ROLE OF MB

At MB, we recognise that organisational failures rarely begin with systems. They begin with behaviours. Likewise, organisational success rarely begins with policies alone. It begins with people.

Indeed, ethical drift rarely announces itself through a major scandal at the outset. Its warning signs are often subtle: declining willingness to speak up, inconsistent disciplinary outcomes, tolerance of poor performance, increasing rationalisation of misconduct and weakening accountability among leaders.

Left unaddressed, these indicators can evolve into significant governance, fraud, reputational and service delivery risks.

Through forensic investigations, fraud risk management, governance advisory services, ethics and integrity assessments, culture diagnostics and leadership interventions, we assist organisations in identifying these early warning signs, strengthening accountability mechanisms and embedding cultures that support sustainable performance.

Our objective extends beyond investigating misconduct after it occurs. We seek to assist organisations in cultivating environments where misconduct is less likely to occur in the first place by strengthening accountability, reinforcing ethical leadership and building cultures that support sustainable performance.

A COLLECTIVE RESPONSIBILITY

As we commemorate Nelson Mandela this July, perhaps the most meaningful tribute is not found in symbolic gestures alone but in a renewed commitment to accountability, service, ethical leadership and the restoration of trust. South Africa’s future will not be determined solely by the laws we enact or the policies we draft. It will be determined by the values we live, the behaviours we tolerate and the cultures we create within our institutions.

The relationship between individual conduct, organisational culture and societal outcomes is inescapable. When individuals act with integrity, ethical cultures emerge. When ethical cultures take root, institutions become more effective, service delivery improves, businesses prosper and communities benefit. Conversely, when ethical drift and ubuntu drift are allowed to persist, institutional performance deteriorates and public trust erodes.

The renewal of South Africa will not begin in Parliament, boardrooms or courtrooms alone. It will begin when individuals accept responsibility for the standards they uphold, the behaviours they model and the cultures they help create. Ultimately, the quality of our institutions will seldom rise above the character, values and conduct of the people who shape them.