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Tichaona Zindoga
There is a body of literature on the subject of morality, though.
There are definitions and explanations by philosophers, psychologists and theologists.The case becomes complex.
The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy explains that “morality” can be used “descriptively to refer to some codes of conduct put forward by a society or some other group, such as a religion, or accepted by an individual for her own behaviour; or normatively to refer to a code of conduct that, given specified conditions, would be put forward by all rational persons.”
Helpfully, the encyclopedia admits that “Morality’ is an unusual word (which) is not used very much, at least not without some qualification.”
“People do sometimes talk about Christian morality, Nazi morality, or about the morality of the Greeks, but they seldom talk simply about morality all by itself,” it says.
Psychologist Sigmund Freud referred to morality as derived from societal examples, out of respect and fear.
In religion, Jesus’ commandment that one should love their neighbour as themselves could hold true as Christianity’s greatest morality compass.
One Barbara O’Brien puts in a very instructive view of the Buddhist religion’s view of morality saying “moral behaviour flows naturally from mastering one’s ego and desires and cultivating loving kindness (metta) and compassion (karuna).”
For all these definitions it is agreed that morality is difficult to pin down as what is acceptable in one society or part of the world may not hold elsewhere.
This is called relativism and subjectivity.
O’Brien sums this dilemma when she cites Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger before being ordained Pope Benedict XVI in April 2005 as saying, “Relativism, which is letting oneself be tossed and swept along by every wind of teaching, looks like the only attitude acceptable to today’s standards…
‘‘We are moving toward a dictatorship of relativism which does not recognize anything as definitive and has as its highest value one’s own ego and one’s own.”
This is how the problem of morality, or defining the same, can be.
But there are a few things that Zimbabweans as Christians and people with “hunhu” or “ubuntu” could agree on — and that may be summed up in the commandment that you should love thy neighbour as yourself.
This is why, by way of introducing the crux of this piece, so many people have been disgusted by recent and continuing revelations of how some corporate (mis)governors have been feasting sumptuously amid penury and how they are impoverishing the country and the very institutions they should be serving.
Their names are now all too familiar. The tales are being spun everyday.
It can only get worse. More shocking.
The world is beginning to understand how heartless the world is around people like Cuthbert Dube as they earn ridiculously high salaries when the organisations they run are grounded.
In all honesty, though, one cannot say without a real risk of being found to be technically incorrect that, for example, the comrade that has been running affairs at a certain organization with its headquarters atop a certain hill in northern Harare until lately is a crook or thief.
The huge monies he earned he definitely was entitled to, if his contract said so.
The problem becomes, and this is where morality kicks in, how he managed to close his eyes to the suffering of the lesser workers.
Another factor is how he would stomach — both literally and figuratively —the huge amounts of money when his organisation was struggling financially.
Morality goes hand in hand with conscience.
This conscience trains one to moral infractions and those with pretences to morality resign when they are involved in scandalous behaviour.
That someone could have generous “entertainment” allowances per week, when an ordinary worker would not have had anything to eat and be entertained of, shows zero morality.
Of course the big boss can never, perhaps should never, live like the ordinary man and woman under him.
That is what this capitalistic society has taught us.
And capitalism is not exactly favoured naturally with inclinations to the Buddhist’s “metta” and “karuna” (loving kindness and compassion, respectively).
When over half a million subscribers to a medical aid society run the risk of death and mortal illnesses because they cannot access health insurance due to the malfeasance at the organisation, those behind the malfeasance lack kindness and compassion.
They are morally bankrupt. They do not care.
They do not care because they can afford better services for which they can pay cash, and outside of the country, too.
The parastatal bosses are part of something that is generally called “the system”.
This special system is generally described as rotten.
It is has a nomenclature that reflects the way people live while Lazarussing the majority.
It is the gravy train.
The system and its gravy train are not salutary at all to the revolutionary party that leads us and that rode on the promises of a more equal life among its citizens.
Worst of all, some of those that fought the liberation war, or got the rough end of it, are languishing in abject poverty.
These include war veterans and their children as well as the rural folk that still endure underdevelopment.
University and college graduates, where they have decided not to flee to other countries, are surviving as petty traders because “the system’s” people have run down industries and employment prospects.
There is a real fear that Zimbabwe might be entering an anomic stage where the means justify the ends and people do whatever they want in order to get money.
Such godlessness!
Such immorality and criminality!
It will take a strong hand to right the situation.
As the sleaze continues to unfold — and there will be more reports of unethical practices — the country needs serious introspection and to put relevant mechanisms to ensure that Zimbabwe becomes a saner, cleaner country.
Curbing salary levels, jailing people and introducing regulations on corporate governance would be crucial.
But addressing the fundamental problems of patronage and nepotism and mediocrity would do a hell of good for the country.
Online Reporter