NO SHORTAGE OF MORAL COWARDS IN SOUTH AFRICA

Local television channels recently reported on the outcome of two court decisions, one involving Nomgcobo Jiba, National Prosecutions Deputy Director, and the other, Hlaudo Motsoeneng, SABC COO. The court dismissed the DA's application for the suspension of Jiba. It was cheers and hugs all round at the NPA. Jiba's jubilation will be short lived as the decision will be reversed on appeal. Motsoeneng, on the other hand, failed in his appeal setting aside his permanent appointment as SABC's COO. However, one would have thought he scored a huge victory when addressing his misguided supporters on the steps of the courthouse. To a bystander nothing was more amusing than an arrogant man on the path to nowhere. Jiba and Motsoeneng both share a common trait: moral cowardice - "the necessary consequence of discarding morality as inconsequential" - Ayn Rand. Their actions have raised serious questions of wrongdoing going to the very heart of their fitness to cling onto their positions. Nonetheless they persist in obfuscation notwithstanding a mountain of evidence to the contrary. Moreover, they do so with the morally indefensible support of their bosses. Surely it is time for the country to demand that Jiba and Motsoeneng (and others) accept responsibility, do what is right by embracing moral decency and the courage to confront their misdeeds. Regrettable it will not happen as shame and contrition have no place of prominence, if at all, in the public sector.