SOUTH Africa emerged from the moral morass of apartheid as the ethical and beacon of a new world order. South Africa, and its progressive constitution and moral leadership of Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu and the millions of women and men who sacrificed their lives and were contributing to the realisation of a dream held by millions across the globe, was held up as a shining example for the world to emulate.
Much has been said about the decline of moral leadership in government, but few have dared to divert their gaze to the lack of integrity in the business world.
General good
Business plays an important role in society. While the government is tasked with ensuring the general public good, business is generally considered to be the vehicle through which society is able to create the wealth and by which the state is able to ensure the general good.
As the key driver of wealth creation and growth in society, business is afforded a special place in government and is the first to be consulted on policy and regulations. A quick glance at the list of submissions to Parliament on any of the laws before it will show that business is consistently the most represented stakeholder or interested party before Parliament and is thus the most heard and listened to.
The danger of course with this type of dominance of the public policy process is that only one side of the debate is heard and the resulting legislation will inevitably be in favour of the side that has made the most noise or dominated the agenda.
Given the prominence of business within the South African public arena, and the overwhelming support it receives from the media through airtime on radio and TV and space devoted to its endeavours in the mass publication media, one would assume that business not only provides the golden eggs but it is also the moral standard bearer of society.
But is this picture of business as the moral champion of society a justified one?
It is fair to say that society only functions properly when based on a core of commonly held values and norms. The values and norms of South African society are captured in the constitution.
These norms and values include equality, justice and participation.
It is common cause that while business is an important source of wealth creation, the wealth that is created is not shared equally or equitably with the society in which it operates.
No business can operate without people, land and resources. The harmonious interrelation of these three elements would come closest to an ethical business. This type of business would consider a triple bottom line as the true test of a business as opposed to a narrow, ethically questionable economic bottom line only.
Triple bottom line
The triple bottom line would include the economic bottom line of profit, the social bottom line of people and the environmental bottom line of nature.
In the development of policy in the mining sector, which is dominated by business interests, the claims of any kind of moral or ethical leadership by business and government are based on blatant lies.
Not only are mining companies denying our society the benefit of the economic bottom line, through its narrow black economic empowerment criteria which exclude and limit the benefit to communities, but it is also illicitly transferring our nation’s wealth out of the country.
The social bottom line exists only in clandestine plans, kept between the mining companies and the Department of Mineral Resources. Communities are excluded by law from claiming their rights to participate in matters that affect them, as enshrined in the constitution.
The mining sector lacks any sense of social justice, with no social trust, increased social conflict and a huge deficit of social capital. And as is the case with Lonmin, any promises mining companies make with regard to the social bottom line are often blatant lies.
At the environmental level, the unholy haste with which mining operations are expanding in environmentally sensitive areas in Mpumalanga, the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo and other provinces, are a testament to the focus on narrow unethical profits for the few and a disregard for the environment.
In short, the business sector and the mining sector, the government and the Department of Mineral Resources in particular, the Parliament and the portfolio committee on mineral resources in particular, have failed to understand the moral and ethical dilemma that their actions and inaction have caused in the sector.
The current mining dispensation, which excludes communities and environmental groups from contributing to a mutually beneficial mining sector, not only runs counter to our constitutional values, it also contributes significantly to the disintegration of our society.
Economic considerations alone are insufficient. It is both unethical and foolish to ignore the demands of social justice and environmental sustainability.
Christopher Rutledge is the Mining and Extractives Co-ordinator for ActionAid South Africa and the convenor of the Civil Society Coalition on the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act.