Ethical Leadership Decadence of Good Governance Failures in South African Public Service

Abstract

The study examined the Ethical Leadership Decadence and good governance failures in South African Public Service. According to the study, the global crisis has influenced the South African economy because it is interwoven into the global economy. Studies indicate that the environment and culture influence the ethical behavior of individuals in their workplace. It is, therefore, critical for leaders to take active steps in fostering an ethical environment and culture in government institutions. The purpose of this article is to evaluate the issues that ethical leadership faces in light of the global crisis and to ask whether a simple response to the crisis without a purposeful ethical emphasis is sufficient for maintaining an effective and efficient public service. The method used is a critical qualitative examination of the current literature on the subject. The study concluded that the present administration must restructure the functioning of public organizations, develop sound whistleblowing systems to prevent corruption, and encourage public managers to act ethically when serving the public.

1. Introduction

There is a greater cognizance of the need to have ethical leadership in governance, alongside accountability and transparency in public service life. The apparent realization of such awareness is supported by the development of a consensus that good governance and sound public administration are underpinned by sustainable development [1]. The effect of unethical and unlawful practices in the public sector is considered unsupportable in the development of a nation, as it could result in a loss of confidence in the public institutions and the erosion of the rule of law itself [2, 3, 4, 5]. Although the current concern with ethics and corruption is found around the globe, some regions are particularly interested in mitigating the damaging effects of unethical and corrupt practices on the development of countries [1].

Africa currently faces enormous challenges in its efforts to achieve sustainable human development. Establishing ethical leadership in public services is imperative because government institutions are considered the custodians of public funds [6, 7]. As a result, government institutions are required to have ethical leaders to handle government funds and provide effective public services [8]. This study explored the magnitude of ethical leadership practices in South African public functions, given the comparatively high level of corruption in many institutions, such as the public service and the consequences of extremely inhibiting the development of national economies. And the significant hindrance of corruption to good governance and service delivery. This study established the potential benefits of having ethical leadership in the public sector, such as the department of education by analyzing the ethical leadership characteristics present in the public sector.

Ethical leadership has been shown to have considerable benefits for both organizations and businesses [9, 10, 11]. The government of South Africa launched an initiative called Batho Pele in 2005, which means putting “the people first”. The initiative was aimed at improving integrity in public administration through a tighter strategy in monitoring public office-holders performance and the consequent compliance with ethical practices [6]. Inputting such legislation in place and the proliferation of ethical codes of conduct is seen to be unlikely in putting unethical behavior to an end among public officeholders [12]. This ultimately suggests that public officials should be trained with the attitudes and virtues for guiding human conduct since the public sector presented copious challenging situations as a result of its diversity [13].

Significantly, the integrity training of public officials could help to gain confidence in providing effective, ethical, and accountable services [14]. It is against this backdrop that this study assesses the ethical leadership decadence in the South African public sector as a crucial problem that needs to be addressed. The study argues that ethical leadership to be engraved in government business, practice, activities, and systems. Moral and ethical leadership is the panacea to shrewd financial management, good and open government, transparency, and effective and prudent government practice.

1.1 Research methodology

This study is qualitative research with an original interview conducted with respondents as a means of collecting data, the study analyzed its data through thematic content analysis. Although the research analyzes a significant amount of literature in the body of current knowledge, this nevertheless enables researchers to examine, consult, and understand written materials or records that may be in the public or private domain. The writers looked at a variety of writings that were available in the public or private domain and were gathered using a desktop technique. The relevance of the documents that the researchers examine is determined by a methodical evaluation of the information gathered and is based on their value to the study. Sileyew [15], pointed out that there are several methods and designs employed in research.

Documentary analysis was chosen as the approach for this study because it establishes the criteria for the researcher to choose various documents while concentrating on excerpts that should illustrate the topics for which the researcher is looking for proof. With the aid of this methodology, the researchers were able to investigate the core goals that may be used to solve the problem of ethical leadership decadence in the South African public sector.

2. Literature review

The study examined the ethical decadence in leadership in terms of good governance failures in South African Public Service. Most people associate ethics (or morals) with rules that make a distinction between right and wrong, such as the Golden Rule. The most popular definition of “ethics”: is standards of behaviors that distinguish between acceptable and inappropriate behavior [16]. Most people learn about ethical standards at home, school, church, or other social contexts. Although most people develop their sense of right and wrong during childhood, moral growth occurs throughout life and human beings move through stages of moral development [17].

Ethical norms are so pervasive that it’s easy to dismiss them as common sense. On the other hand, if morality were simply common sense, why do we have so many ethical disagreements and challenges in our society? One potential reason for these disagreements is that everyone recognizes some universal ethical rules but interprets, applies, and balances them differently based on their values and life experiences [12, 18]. For example, two people may agree that murder is immoral yet disagree on the morality of abortion because they have different ideas about what it means to be human. Most communities have legal standards that control behavior as well, but ethical norms are wider but also more informal than laws [19].

Even though most civilizations utilize laws to enforce widely accepted moral norms, and ethical and legal principles use comparable concepts, ethics and law are not the same things [20]. A legal but unethical deed or illegal but ethical action [2]. Ethical notions and principles can also be used to criticize, analyze, propose, or interpret laws [21]. Indeed, many social reformers in the last century exhorted citizens to defy laws they deemed immoral or unjust [22]. Peaceful civil disobedience is a moral method of protesting laws or expressing political views. Another definition of ethics focuses on the disciplines that investigate moral norms, such as philosophy, theology, law, psychology, or sociology [23]. A “medical ethicist,” for example, is someone who examines ethical principles in medicine.

Ethics in research can also be defined as a strategy, procedure, or viewpoint for selecting how to act and understanding difficult situations and topics [24]. Consider, for example, a complex topic such as global warming from an economic, ecological, political, or ethical standpoint. While an economist could look at the costs and advantages of various global warming measures, an environmental ethicist might look at the ethical values and principles at issue [25]. Many different fields, institutions, and professions have behavioral norms that are tailored to their specific interests and goals. These standards also assist discipline members in coordinating their actions or activities and in establishing the public’s faith in the discipline [26, 27]. For example, ethical standards control behavior in medicine, law, engineering, and other fields.

Ethical rules also assist research objectives and apply to those who perform scientific study or other intellectual or creative activities [28]. Research ethics is a specialist profession that investigates these rules. There are various reasons why it is critical to follow ethical standards in research [29]. First, norms advance research goals such as knowledge, truth, and error avoidance. Prohibitions on creating, manipulating, or misrepresenting research data, for example, promote the truth while minimizing mistakes [14]. Second, because research frequently entails a considerable lot of collaboration and coordination among many different people from various fields and institutions, ethical norms encourage characteristics that are fundamental to collaborative work, such as trust, accountability, mutual respect, and fairness.

Many ethical conventions in research, for example, criteria for authorship, copyright and patenting policies, data sharing policies, and peer assessment confidentiality regulations are intended to preserve intellectual property interests while fostering collaboration [30]. Most researchers want to be recognized for their work and do not want their ideas to be stolen or leaked early [31, 32]. Third, many of the ethical rules assist in holding researchers accountable to the public. Federal laws on research misconduct, conflicts of interest, human subjects protection, and animal care and usage, for example, are required to ensure that researchers sponsored by public funds can be held accountable to the public [33]. Fourth, ethical standards in research contribute to public support for research. People are more likely to fund a research study if they have confidence in the research’s quality and integrity [33].

Finally, many research norms promote a wide range of other essential moral and social values, such as social responsibility, human rights, animal welfare, legal compliance, and public health and safety. Ethical breaches in research can have serious consequences for human and animal subjects, students, and the general public [34, 35]. For example, a researcher who falsifies data in a clinical trial may hurt or even kill patients, and a researcher who fails to follow radiation or biological safety standards and guidelines may imperil his or her health and safety or the health and safety of others [36].

2.1 Observation of ethics codes and policies

In research, observing ethics codes and policies is very important. Given the importance of ethics in research, it should come as no surprise that many different professional organizations, government agencies, and universities have developed distinct research ethics codes, norms, and policies. Many government bodies have ethics guidelines for researchers who are financed [37]. Though substantial research has been fervent on ethics, there is meaningfully less attention given to ethical leadership in the South African Public Service. Given the above background, there is an equal number of African countries that have witnessed huge maladministration of public funds and corruption [10, 11, 38]. This study maintained that such unethical behavior among public officeholders is mainly attributed to a leadership problem. A clear case in South Africa was witnessed when Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng, while addressing delegates at the Serious Social Investing Conference 2016 in South Africa, articulated that South Africa needs ethical leaders who are not corrupt [39].

The above observation mainly stemmed from the landslide Constitutional ruling in South Africa, where President Zuma was said to have enriched himself with public funds [27]. The objective of the study is to assess the ethical leadership decadence in South African public service while using the Eastern Cape Department of Education as a focus. Given South Africa’s socio-economic conditions with the besieged state-owned enterprises like Eskom and South African Airways, this study looked at the complex layers of corruption in public sectors and the concern for ethical leadership. Kariuki in 2019 argued that South Africa as a nation has reached its tipping point as far as ethical leadership is concerned [40]. Conrad in 2013 also argued that South Africa as a country is seen to be in desperate need of principled leaders who will put the country back on a path of responsible leadership aimed at improving the quality of governance at all levels [41]. According to scholars many of the failures in governance are associated with noncompliance and corruption as stipulated by legislative requirements, such as the Public Finance Management Act and the Municipal Finance Management Act [40, 42].

The legislation is designed to keep the running of government free from corruption and maladministration in public offices [3, 4]. The absolute neglect to the adherence to the legislative requirements as provided by these Acts is seen as disrespect for the provisions of the Constitution and the general public who anticipate quality provision of public goods and delivery of services consistently and sustainably [40]. The failures in governance point to low levels of ethical leadership in the public sectors of the country. As indicated by Aboobaker, “good leadership is often interpreted as effective leadership while bad leadership is interpreted as ineffective and inefficient ([43], p. 6)”.

2.2 Ethical leadership and absenteeism of employees

Ethical leadership decreases absenteeism of employees while lowering misconduct and thereby improves job satisfaction and quality performance [44]. Public office holders in top management positions, who are “ethical leaders are often perceived to be more suitable to opportunities for promotion” [45]. It is, therefore, a significant pillar to successful organizational operations, principally in countries where comparatively higher cases of corruption are recorded [41], such as South Africa. As noted by Heres & Lasthuizen the majority of studies on ethical leadership that were conducted in the US were mainly focused on the business environment, this essentially ignored the societal and organizational factors that may affect the notions and manifestations of ethical leadership [46]. Similarly, Allan; and Kariuki, noted that in Africa, most of the studies conducted on ethics primarily focus on the private sector, while it neglects the public sector, which directly affects citizens [40]. Nevertheless, there are several socio-economic issues ([47], p. 590), such as high unemployment. Which currently sits at 30.1% [48], illiteracy, and certain areas of the public sector, such as the health service and local government (divided into 9 geographical provinces [40]. These are often seen to function poorly and are habitually characterized by ill-informed uncaring public officials.

As indicated by Aboobaker, the Public Service and Administration Minister announced a programme to professionalize the public service by introducing compulsory induction training in October 2013 [43]. In acknowledging the utmost necessity for development, there follow six months of nationwide public consultation, which later birthed the drafted long-term vision and strategic plan for South Africa, devised by the government. This road-map strategy devised by the South African government known as the National Development Plan-2030 “Sets down strategies to address poverty by broadening access to employment, strengthening the social wage, improving public transport and raising rural incomes [42]. It is stated that the NDP 2030 outlines the various steps which are needed to be taken by the state in strengthening leadership accountability, improving coordination and prosecuting corruption in the public service [28].

Even through the shift from the stigma of apartheid, a situation the majority of black South Africans were excluded from ownership and/or control of means of productive assets or resources. As well as the exclusion from participating in the country’s economy, before attaining democracy in 1994, which was relatively realized peacefully after a period of struggle [42, 44]. Many organizations remain hierarchical in structure, while industrial and employee relationships are often considered to be festering resentments [49]. The scholars noted that there are some occasions where it festers violence and the most recent case appeared in an aggressive dispute, which ensued between a private sector mining company, its employees, competing trade unions and police intervention [49]. Although legislation aimed at promoting economic transformation and eliminating resentment was introduced almost a decade ago, its record concerning equalizing the wealth of ordinary workers has been patchy [50].

2.3 Unethical and poor governance

The government of South Africa, however, has over the years established well-known authorities to help fight unethical and poor governance in the public service and other sectors. The systems of ethics and governance frameworks in South Africa, particularly in the public sector in the South African context, could be traced and elucidated copiously after the apartheid regime than it was during the apartheid era [42]. At the end of the apartheid regime in South Africa, a new constitution was developed and adopted by the new democratic government in 1996 under the policy of non-racialism and equality of all citizens as stated in the [51]. The new constitution under the leadership of Nelson Mandela attempted to address such mythical values of apartheid in the public sector. As stated in Section 195 of the South African Constitution that “public administration must be governed by the democratic values and principles enshrined in the Constitution” [51].

The constitution further states that “public administration must be a broad representation of the South African people, with employment and personnel management practices based on ability, objectivity, fairness and the need to redress the imbalances of the past to achieve broad representation” as seen in the [35, p. 18]. Rosenbaum research in reaction to Section 195 of the South African Constitution, argued that public sectors remained reshaped for their new role in the country. Among seven other transformation priorities, public sector ethics, efficacy and accountability were emphasized [52]. A scholar like Malunga, emphasizes that South Africa has responded by executing a range of legislations and the subsequent creation of democratic institutions as dynamic strategic shields in its quest to establish national integrity and subsequently fight corruption in the country [53]. This was not an easy task as a result that the heterogeneous and multicultural society still experienced a torrent of corruption as well as moral relativism and moral contextualization of the apartheid regime [54, 55].

To unify the essentials of the country, particularly in the public sector, numerous ethics and governance measures were implemented associated with international and national frameworks [53]. Some of those measures include policies, legislative and regulatory frameworks, which consist of the key institutions, sectors, laws, practices and specific contrivances that contribute to enhancing good governance. These include the following:

The Public Service Commission (PSC), is an institution established in terms of Chapter 10 of the 1996 Constitution with a mandate of promoting a high standard of professional ethics in the public sector and to investigate, monitor, and evaluate the organization, administration, and personnel practices of public service [56].

The institution is meant to focus on performing a very vital role in the development of the Code of Conduct for the Public Sector that forms the basis of the public sector’s integrity framework as it sets values for ethical conduct across the country [57]. The Public Protector is another institution that is a national Ombudsman established under Section 181 of the South African Constitution, that forms part of the national integrity framework, and has two mandate dimensions [53, 58, 59]. The vital role of the Public Protector in anticorruption is also recognized in the key anti-corruption statutes, which include the Prevention and Combating of Corruption Act, the Protected Disclosures Act and the Public Finance Management Act. The Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act specifically give the Public Protector the authority to investigate any improper or dishonest act, omission or offense referred to in the Act, concerning public money [53, 60].

2.3.1 The challenge of ethical leadership and service delivery in the south African context

One of the biggest challenges in governance and government administration is the reliance of political leadership on the administrators to draft the processes and measures to be followed in terms of service delivery [32]. Scholars indicated how important it is to have political leaders who understand government systems and who possess the expected ethics to guide the administrators in government activities [61]. The scholars further articulated that “Government Leaders who do not understand the impact of policies and procedures on public service delivery are most likely to compromise ethics to suit those who manipulate processes” ([61], p. 34). The challenges of ethical leadership in South Africa have led to corrupt practices in various government departments, including the department of education. Corruption is the consequence of poor ethical values and lacking leadership, which often results in poor public service delivery [3, 4].

This section of the study explored the factors which contribute to poor performance in public service delivery and thereby examined the correlation between a poor leadership system (which lacks ethical value) and poor public service delivery. The lack of ethical leadership in administration has severe consequences for attaining good governance and service delivery to the people, as ethical leadership is an imperative constituent of government, in ensuring effective public service delivery [8]. As indicated by another scholar, ‘good leadership is always interpreted as effective when the people appointed to leadership positions can achieve organizational goals ([8, 62, 63] p. 2). According to other scholars, ‘leadership is not just about an individual or a position, but a moral connection between the people founded on trust, responsibility, commitment and a shared vision of the public good ([10, 11, 64], p. 3).

2.4 The principle of ethics

The principle of “ethics in research is about how one distinguishes between rights and wrongs or good and evil, which is what leaders should always consider when leading people” [61]. Good ethics in leadership is believed to improve service delivery ([65], p. 57). The Ethics Research-Centre report revealed that ethics in leadership is a global challenge. This, therefore, translate to the fact that senior leaders are not doing as well as they think they are when it comes to carrying out both their own and the organization’s commitment to integrity [61]. Having ethical behavior and value in administration is not only important in politically deployed public officials but remains the fundamental factor for achieving an effective public service delivery. Several countries in the world including South Africa and public institutions, particularly in Africa, do not have the required ethical leaders who make the essentials of the general public a priority first ([66], p. 240).

As noted by Fourie the implementation and assessment of both national, provincial, and local government codes of ethics in South Africa do not provide an effective solution in combating unethical behavior in government ([67], p. 727). Researchers articulated that poor service delivery with the non-existence of ethical behavior in the governance of leadership and the lack of a proper mechanism in addressing unethical conduct in government institutions as the critical issues affecting public service delivery in the South African government ([8, 61, 68], p. 1310). The presence of unethical leadership behaviors among public office holders in any society would jeopardize the welfare of the people. In addition to that, the limited policies that are guiding ethics in public office holders have been identified as the major problem of ineffective public service delivery ([61, 69], p. 132).

In the South African context according to Kuwana [70], the economy, for instance, is “running on a huge trust deficit, which continues to grow”. Mbandlwa et al. [61], state that senior government leaders, expected to show a high level of leadership ethics, have compromised their positions of power. It is suggested by Xu et al. [71] that ethical leadership behavior, such as “accountability for ethical standards, should echo the procedural and distributive aspects of justice for effective delivery of public services”. How many political leaders behave has been seen to have a large impact on instigating employees’ faith ([72], p. 98). In the South African context, the government has devised many measures to help curb unethical conduct in public services, such as the establishment of the Public Service Commission (PSC), which is to fight unethical and poor governance [73].

However, there seem to remain various defies in overcoming the issue of ethical leadership in the country. Subsequently, public service delivery in South Africa is seen to be facing issues arising from the lack of ethical behavior in leadership. South Africa experienced a deluge of corruption, as well as moral contingency and moral contextualization of the apartheid regime ([74], p. 5). Scholars noted that South Africa as a country is ranked one of the highest corrupt countries in Africa, this was following the Transparency International (TI) 2015 report [75]. This shows the lack of political will and the firm intention or commitment on the part of government leadership, to implement a policy that is practical to tame corruption in the country [75]. The scholars further noted that the world all over has unanimously agreed that corruption has huge socio-economic costs that impact directly poverty and inequality ([76], p. 148).

2.4.1 The conceptualization of ethical leadership in public service

The understanding of ethics in leadership is a global challenge that adversely affects public services. This is seen to be influenced by the changes in the core atmosphere of public services, which supplement mobility, privatization and the decentralization of power ([77], p. 137). The working environment of current public service is seen to be in constant flux, thereby causing anxiety and uncertainty, as well as providing both opportunities and challenges for the people. According to Kim & Yoon [76], the public service in the delivery of public goods involves both the government and private service providers in the new public administration. Argued by Kim & Yoon that;

“the necessity and ultimatum for organizational transformation and novelty in public sector governance have increased in recent years, which also highlighted the competency of employees at various government levels” ([76], p. 148).

The supervisory and managerial leaders in administrations need to apply a pre-emptive strategy that nurtures an effective government ethos and builds management capability. The argument is that executive management does not have full control over the leadership ethics of service providers (While [61]).

Morals and values, which are the founding elements of ethics, have to be highly followed by government employees to embrace good governance. Moreover, ethical considerations should be a guide for selecting appropriate service providers ([61], p. 24988).

Ethical leadership, therefore, is believed to play a conspicuous role in the delivery of public service. Ethical leadership is actions on the part of leaders to foster an environment and culture described by morals and an ethos of service ([78], p. 1). Generally, ethical breaks in any given organization are due to people who consciously disobey or act unethically.

2.4.2 Understanding ethical leadership and service delivery in local administration

Understanding the values of ethics in government leadership is the fundamental component of achieving good governance and ethical leaders, which help to contribute to an effective public services delivery. As stated by a scholar the moral credibility of an individual leader plays an important role in the decisions made by government officeholders, which determine whether the individual is an ethical leader or an unethical leader ([79], p. 899). In numerous countries around the world such as Finland, the local government organization is founded on a bureaucratic ideal model [80]. In addition to that, the scholar mentions that;

There are several practical mechanisms for setting and institutionalizing high standards of ethical conduct integrity and good Governance for elected officials and civil servants, based on the experience of Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the UK, Korea, Morocco and Ethiopia ([80], p. 1).

In nutshell, the introduction of relevant Codes of Ethics and Conduct, to be effective, needs to be supported by a range of other mechanisms, training, and leadership by managers and political leaders alike ([80], p. 1). The idea of such endeavor is to uphold detachment amid the roles of political leaders and public office holders as a case that is as old as splitting politics and government. However, research divulges that “politics plays a serious role in administration” ([81], p. 26) and that the relationship between the two groups remains much more complex. The term politics and administration in public service are regarded as the diverse elements of the same process of expressing and implementing government policy. The connection and influence of political leadership on public administration can affect public values, which include representation, equity, and individual rights.

2.5 Representation of public service office

The representation of public office holder in this regard is an important value in representative democracy, as a result that people would be allowed to elect their preferred leaders who will govern them. Representation implies that elected officials represent the citizens in the absence of direct democracy, while equity in governance is to ensure that there is a just distribution of resources and further guarantees no second-class citizens [82]. However, a lack of ethical leadership in governance affects this value [3, 4]. When political leaders are unethical, government employees are equally affected because wrong decisions are inevitably made, which directly affect the individual rights of citizens. Research showed that public service delivery depends on decisions made by political leaders and government employees ([83], p. 208). Other research shows that the lack of appropriate leadership ethics among government officials is a global phenomenon. According to the research conducted in the United States,

“ethical scandals involving political groups; violations of the privacy of reporters and world leaders; sexual harassment; and assault in the military and government reveal the importance of studies on ethical behaviour and the difficulty of ensuring leadership ethics in governments globally” ([84], p. 334).

Another research conducted on a national survey of 744 randomly selected government workers in the United States shows that 57 percent of government workers reported that they had observed a violation of ethical standards ([85], p. 147). Alongside violating policies or laws in their workplace during the last 12- month period ([85], p. 147). The violations of ethical standards can take various forms, the common examples involve misreporting hours worked. Discrimination in employment, sexual harassment and the violations of privacy ([85], p. 147). The lack of leadership ethics is seen to be a global dilemma, which therefore requires serious attention, as lack of leadership ethics does not only affect the economy of the country, but it affects the well-being of the poor citizens of countries globally ([86], p. 2).

“nearly one-third (30 percent) of government employees in the United States did not report violations of ethics because of fear of being further victimized and a possibility of job loss. Fourteen percent reported that they had been pressured to compromise ethical standards in the course of performing their jobs”.

Government officials who compromise ethical standards are directly affecting the quality of service delivery to public, as the poor ethical standards may result in poor delivery of public goods. The provision of the United States Constitution for instance establishes a representative form of government, where the elected political bureaucrats dully exercise role of governance for the benefit of the citizens ([87], p. 225). However, the political power is shared through federalism, where the power between the federal government and states is shared [88]. However, in the quest to ensure ethical standards in leadership and combact corruption in South African public service, the Department of Public Service and Administration is charged with the responsibility to, oversees the national and provincial government. In adding to that ‘in the South African context,

“it is imperative for institutions of governance, such as the Electoral Commission, and Public Service Commission (PSC), as well as Parliament and provincial legislatures to enforce, securitise and monitor the applications of the above legislative frameworks to instil a good governance culture in the public sector” ([87], p. 225).

These, therefore create the conditions for accountable governance in the best traditions of democracy. It is maintained in this study that pre-emptive consideration must be given attention to help prevent corruption and identify mechanisms in eliminating systemic regulative and organizational lacuna, which may contribute to corruption in the public service.

3. The approach in public sector ethics and integrated moral leadership

In the public sector, leaders are responsible for many citizenry and stakeholders. Further, public leaders are usually expected to conform to standards higher than those aligned with personal morality. Several academics have tried to address the issue of ethics in public administration but they could not merge it into a moral leadership approach. However, this study strives to close that gap. The theories of leadership such as transformational and transactional facilitate the incorporation of ethical considerations into an integrated approach to public sector leadership. Therefore, this study is an attempt to explore the discourse of public sector ethics and its relevance to an integrated leadership approach. In leadership we see morality magnified, and that is why the study of ethics is fundamental to our understanding of leadership.

Thus, ethical appropriateness regarding leader behavior is often evaluated in terms of abstract and highly idealistic concepts regarding an individual’s prescriptive belief of how leaders ought to behave. As such, within the public sector where leaders are called upon to uphold differing and even contradictory levels of ethical responsibility, it has increasingly become expected that leaders meet many of the prototypical and idealized expectations of those whom they represent. Therefore, a moral leader is a relevant ingredient in the public–sector environment. In an era where high-profile lapses by public–sector leaders in ethical and moral judgment are frequently exposed, citizens have come to expect increasingly higher standards of ethical conduct as a broad range of activities are now viewed as immoral, [89] increasing awareness and changing societal values have been linked to the public’s interest in ethics management.

Accordingly, citizens have become more assertive and demanding towards leaders in the public – sector showing less tolerance for leaders’ mistakes, shortcomings, and structured challenges. As many public leaders are generally expected to conform to standards higher than those aligned with personal morality. As international government systems become more commonplace, the responsibility for promoting the ethical-moral values of democracy rests most directly on the public managers and policymakers of the democratic systems ([90], p. 241). The common method in trying to deal with the ethical responsibility of public officials has been the promulgation of codes, policies, and other guidance standards, within the last two decades or so there has been an outpouring of written works on the subject of ethics, particularly the ethics of those in government service ([91], p. 573). Yet given this recent focus on ethics in public services, the subject of administrative ethics has often been explored independently of the broader subject of leadership.

4. Ethics of leadership and leaders’ degree of moral

In general, the ethics of leadership and leaders’ degree of moral development are increasingly becoming essential elements of the private sector and mainstream leadership research. Nevertheless, “administrative leadership research has experienced neither the volume nor the integration of the mainstream because literature about administrative leadership is dispersed in topics such as reform, ethics, and management, and explicit focus on the detailed dynamics of leadership is largely lacking ([92], p. 215). Further, in addressing the fragmentation of the administrative leadership literature. The ethics – values literature, for all of its normative robustness generally offer few concrete recommendations beyond general admonitions to be responsive, trustworthy, honest, courageous, and prudent” ([92], p. 223).

Ethics and public service values are important elements in comprising the engine of public administration. From ethical principles to recommendations, scholars and practitioners have attempted to classify what should be the foundations of administrative ethics, the appropriate ethical behaviors of public leaders, and the ethical behaviors of public leaders and the ethical role of the public administrator. The regime values are the normative foundations of administrative ethics [93]. Accordingly, the major ingredients of a citizenship ethic in public administration as authoritative judgment, the public interest, and citizenship as education and community [94].

5. Theoretical ideologies of moral and ethical leadership in the public service

The study significantly provides a theoretical framework upon which to base future road maps for actions thereby closing the current theoretical gaps. In so doing, it contributes to the promotion of healthy working conditions within the Eastern Cape Department of Education for the implementation of strategies and promoting cum enhancing a culture of ethical conduct for improved service delivery through effective leadership and leadership. The theoretical underpinning of the study is built around two extreme theories, trait and situation. In that, while the former prescribes leadership in the context of the great man theory. Based on physical attributes and charisma, when the argument is made that a leader is born and not made. The former, situational theories, argue that decision and leadership in organizations are based on expertise, exposure, circumstance, technical know-how, availability, and resources without regard to gender preference (unlike the first).

Its arguments stem from the notion that every situation requires a different approach, resources, and mannerisms. Further, the study explores approaches to the integration of moral and ethical leadership in SA and gives certain recommendations based on the findings in the study. The evolution of leadership discourse in public administration may be divided into three overlapping phases. The first phase ascribes leadership to the politicians. The second phase relegates the act of leadership to managing complex functions of the public service. In the third phase, public services began the challenging task of reforming their governments along with the principles of effective governance.

6. Ethical issue of leadership and public debate

The ethical issue of leadership characterizes public debates among other things and leaders across the globe are often morally disappointing ([95], p. 6). Almost in any piece of scholarly work on leadership, there’s always a portion that talks about integrity and strong ethical values as being crucial to leadership. As argued in human relationships with each other and other living things, a scholar asserts that ethics are viewed as examining what is right or wrong, good, evil, virtue, …justice, and fairness ([95], p. 6). Most people rightfully feel that they know about ethics from experience and more often think of ethics as practical knowledge as opposed to theoretical knowledge.

The researcher, therefore, ponders whether civil servants in public service also view ethics as practical knowledge divorced from a theoretical one. Joseph Rost in his book on Leadership in the Twenty-First Century concludes that having examined ethical systems none of them assists leaders and followers in decision-making regarding ethics of the changes they intend for an organization or society and these are inadequate to the task of making moral judgments about the content of leadership ([96], p. 172). This leaves the question on the researchers’ mind on whether public service employees especially managers in particular thought it important for their subordinates to be honest, and upright and whether they regard them as principled leaders whose activities are often based on knowledge, transparency, consistency, and fairness.

The study hinges on moral leadership as its theoretical underpinning. Quite several important theoretical underpinnings are supporting the moral leadership concept and its various manifestations. While many scholars made important contributions to our understanding of ethics and the value dimension of administration, some offer a good introduction to the theoretical foundations of the moral leadership concept. For instance, a comprehensive treatise on the ethics of management, argues that administrators and leaders must act and choose, that choice is inevitably subjective and that selection of one or another course of action will be based on a set of values [97].

7. Concept of leadership in ethics

The concept of leadership is rooted in a view of practice guided by the obligation of the leaders. In concurring with Bottery’s view that the ethical administrator must lead in a manner wherein one’s leadership is critical, transformative, visionary, educative, empowering, liberating, personally ethical, organisationally ethical, and responsible. Distinguishes between ethics as the study of moral practice and being moral, which “involves more than thinking and making moral judgments ([98], p. 155). While on the other hand, sterling contributions were made by reminding readers of the essentially human character of organizations, their purpose, and the moral nature of the administrator’s task [99]. The issues resonating from non-compliance, public trust, and inept ethical and moral behavior of the civil servants in the provision of service is a pointer to this assumption.

8. Concluding remarks

The study concluded that the present administration must restructure the functioning of public organizations, develop sound whistleblowing systems to prevent corruption, and encourage public managers to act ethically when serving the public. This study also shows that fraudulent activities are a result of the inappropriate work ethos, including either subversion or sub-standardization in the business of the department. The government must implement control measures including internal control and internal audit alarms that signal problems in the department. Therefore, it is essential to completely reform the administrative culture to foster the effective, efficient, and productive capacity of DoE staff. The study’s findings show that some form of intervention is necessary for effective leadership in the public sector.

As concerns about compliance, moral behavior, fraud investigation, monitoring, and reporting are handled delicately. The leaders and frontrunners of any administration are often insensitive, which is a big factor in why initiatives fail. The report recommends an intervention plan that will first retrain the civil servant management team and include young people with new and fresh perspectives in keeping with space and time.

The research also subtly highlights the claim that all governments’ departments, ministries, and agencies throughout the world use a trait-to-situational strategy. of a person viewing themselves as the culmination as opposed to a request for assistance. The conclusions of this study stress strong governance concepts like transparency, accountability, and ethics, which are key factors in the efficient provision of public services.

To assist limit the unrestrained powers of public office holders in South African public sectors, it is advised that preventative measures, including the reforming of regulatory frameworks, be put in place. Additionally, it is advised that the government improve skills training and decision-making openness, especially for public officials who hold positions with high budgetary stakes.