138 Ethics in Higher Education: Values-driven Leaders for the Future
Constitution. The argument advanced in this paper is that ethics in
leadership means that ethics serves not just as a means of accomplishing
stated goals but that it also restrains the tendency to exercise the power
of leadership for purposes other than those that can be considered
“good” in objective terms. This governance by ethics is well stated in
s.1(d) of the South African Constitution, 1996 when it says that
government under the constitution seeks “to ensure accountability,
responsiveness and openness.”
One example is the recent case^4 on the application of the regulations
on pregnancy by learners. The principles of legality and constitutionality
were considered without regard to the ethical issues that are as much the
mission of the school environment as are the rights and best interests of
the learners. Of course the issue of law and morality is a vexed matter in
jurisprudence. Nevertheless, especially in a country where values are
entrenched in the Constitution, and where one ought to be mindful of the
social environment of conduct in public life, schools are an important if
not vital area for the practice of moral life.
South Africa’s judiciary ought to be mindful of words once stated by
Lon Fuller that “internal adherence to the internal morality of law
would, in practice, significantly inhibit a government’s ability to engage
in grossly immoral behaviour...” (1993:283). What is under question in
our country at the moment is whether people believe that the “internal
morality of law” has currency any longer. I wish to suggest that that
“internal morality” of law is expressed in our Constitution, but its
lifeblood is in the practice of law and governance.
I disagree with many others who decry the fact that South Africa is
not possessed of a unifying vision and a compelling idealism. I believe
that Nelson Mandela was able to rally this nation away from its sordid
past towards embracing reconciliation as the means by which we could
4
Head of the Department, Free State Department of Education v Welkom High
School & Another; Head of the Department, Free State Department of Education
v Harmony High School & Another (CCT103/12), delivered July 2013.