You Probably are a Criminal

An alarming thought struck me recently: how are we going to halt moral decay when even a majority of readers of The Southern Cross are criminals? Me included.

How many of us can truthfully say that we have never parked our cars illegally, used our cellphones while driving, allowed our dogs to roam the streets, watched a pirated DVD, gone faster than 60km/h in a built up zone, or overtaken someone on a solid white line?

The point is that petty as these transgressions may be, they are nonetheless crimes, unless one does not believe in the notion of giving unto Caesar what is Caesar’s.

And it continues to amuse me that so many business leaders cry foul and point indignant self-righteous fingers at politicians when their own backyard is in such a mess.

According to the World Trade Organisation, corrupt practices by global business last year totalled a whopping R21 billion! Cutting corners on best business practice by bribing politicians and giving backhanders to corporate buyers is not only increasing but is almost becoming acceptable.

Corporate Fraud

And it is alarming to see in this country how many crooked business executives are allowed to get away with corporate fraud, theft and other white collar crimes. The reason they get away with it is that misguided boards of directors feel that it would damage the company image if a senior executive is seen to be charged with a crime. So they hush it all up.

The guilty executive simply resigns, often with a sizeable golden handshake. Both sides are contractually bound not to talk about the incident and the board sits back, having saved face in spite of adding impetus to the wave of crime coursing through this country. And, as always, the consumer – you and I – pays for it all.

It is a despicable practice and far more widespread than political corruption will ever be.

It is small wonder that the finance minister, Trevor Manuel, announced a few months ago that government intends cracking down on white-collar criminals.

As I thought about crime, I had a chance to bring everything into perspective by going for a walk on the beach and then downing successive single malt whiskies. My conclusion was this: if we are to stop moral decay and put a stop to spiralling crime, every single citizen of this country would have to start by indulging in a bit of self-examination.

Business Ethics or Just Plain Crime?

I remember some time ago attending a talk given by Pick ‘n Pay founder Raymond Ackerman on the subject of business ethics. He was adamant that there were no degrees of right or wrong, and that the pettiness of a crime did not make it any less of a crime.

He gave the example of employees making private telephone calls on company phones and taking home the odd box of paper clips or a ballpoint pen. This, he said, was theft. It might be petty theft, he said, but it was human nature that the more one gets away with little things, the greater the temptation to start taking home bigger prizes, such as computers or fax machines.

I was intrigued a while back to listen to an expert on road rage talking about the increase in lawlessness on our roads. His argument was that because taxis appeared to be getting away with murder on our roads and never seemed to be targeted by the traffic police, normally well-behaved ordinary motorists have started breaking the law – speeding, overtaking on solid white lines, jumping traffic lights – out of sheer frustration. They argue that if taxis can get away with it, then why shouldn’t they?

The  Broken Window Policy

In New York some time back, the authorities implemented what they called the broken window policy which basically meant arresting and charging people for petty crimes such as urinating in the streets and littering. They assumed that if they could be seen to be clamping down on petty crime it would have a positive effect on reducing major crime. And it certainly did.

Obviously our government needs to start doing this as well. At the same time, however, the public cannot sit back and let government and the police do the whole job.

Perhaps it is time for all of us to have a long hard look at what crimes we are committing every day, and then simply stop committing them.
I have a feeling that like charity, moral regeneration begins at home. Updated from 2007