Abstract
Border crossing in business behaviour takes many forms, including temporal, spatial, geographical, sociological, and psychological. While physical border-crossing can significantly impact business behaviour, leadership border-crossing from ethical to unethical behaviour by prominent national leaders can have substantial trickle-down effects on business leadership in industry. This paper examines the rise and fall of business ethics in South Africa, illustrating how changes in political leadership have influenced corporate governance and ethical business behaviour.
The fall of the apartheid government and the election of the first truly democratic government in South Africa ushered in a period of enormous expectancy and hope that here, on the Southern-most tip of Africa, a country with great natural wealth and a modern economy would grow and flourish. The fact that this has turned out not to be the case runs parallel with the initial rise and recent fall of business ethics’ practices in South African industry. The fall of the apartheid state ushered in a new and rigorous code of business ethics backed by legislation aimed to expunge the immoral, racist job reservationist and discriminatory practices of the apartheid government which propelled business ethics in South Africa onto the central stage of world-wide business moral approbation. However, lack of governance and on-going corrupt practices of the government of South Africa, which today has been in power for over quarter of a century, has turned moral rectitude into moral disapprobation. This chapter seeks to contribute to the literature of Business ethics by using selected cases that illustrate the erosion of South African business ethics over time to demonstrate that a moral high ground built through exemplary leadership and rules and legislations are not guaranteed with changing circumstances to ensure a lasting moral climate in industry. Exemplary ethical labor laws built with strong moral intent can become corrupt and cynical political and industrial leadership or can diffuse into business practices and throughout society in time and with changing circumstances. The South African experience is particularly useful as it presents in a comparatively short period of time how changes in political ideology and leadership have pervasive effects on corporate governance and ethical business behavior. The paper aims to show from the South African experience how business ethics can be a two–edged sword which, when correctly used, can promote moral business practices but also, when used cynically or corruptly can diminish it or destroy it altogether.