Building a Culture of Accountability - a Call to Action

The author contends that South Africa's ethics infrastructure is ineffective due to poor compliance and a lack of enforcement, which erodes public trust and government credibility. The text identifies unregulated areas—such as private political party funding and the 'revolving door' between government and business—as key drivers of corruption. To address these, the document proposes a series of institutional reforms, including the creation of an Integrity Commissioner, the implementation of lifestyle audits, and the regulation of private funds to political parties, while emphasizing the need for public officials to internalize ethical values.

• South Africa's existing ethics infrastructure is described as being effective in design but failing in practice due to poor compliance, inconsistent application, and a lack of follow-through regarding prosecutions and investigations.
• The failure to enforce ethics rules and sanction unethical conduct by senior officials leads to a loss of public trust, which undermines the government's authority to govern and implement policies.
• Corruption in South Africa is exacerbated by unregulated activities that create conflicts of interest, specifically the 'revolving door' between the private sector and government, public procurement and tendering, and the private funding of political parties.
• The document recommends several specific policy and institutional reforms to improve integrity, including the introduction of an Integrity Commissioner with investigative powers, lifestyle audits for public officials, and the removal of confidential sections in financial disclosure registers.
• The author argues that rule compliance alone is insufficient and that South Africa must shift toward a value-based society where public officials are committed to ethical principles and lead by example.

APA

Herzenberg, C. S. (n.d.). Building a Culture of Accountability - a Call to Action. Institute for Security Studies. https://issafrica.org/iss-today/building-a-culture-of-accountability-a-call-to-action

Chicago

Herzenberg, Collette Schulz. Building a Culture of Accountability - a Call to Action. Institute for Security Studies, n.d. https://issafrica.org/iss-today/building-a-culture-of-accountability-a-call-to-action.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Herzenberg |first1=Collette Schulz |title=Building a Culture of Accountability - a Call to Action |publisher=Institute for Security Studies |url=https://issafrica.org/iss-today/building-a-culture-of-accountability-a-call-to-action |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{herzenbergndbuilding, author = {Herzenberg, Collette Schulz}, title = {{Building a Culture of Accountability - a Call to Action}}, publisher = {Institute for Security Studies}, url = {https://issafrica.org/iss-today/building-a-culture-of-accountability-a-call-to-action}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }