Proper governance in organizations across both the public and private domain has come under great scrutiny around the world. In South Africa with a Transparency International 2015 Corruption Perception Index (CPI) score of 44, rank 61/168, the question of appropriate governance structures to curb corruption is critical. There have been highly publicized recent occurrences of corruption and mismanagement in South African SOE’ssuch as Prasa, Eskom, SABC, Denel, SAA and Transnet. These instances have resulted in increased scrutiny on governance and ethical leadership in government organizations. With the high-profile cases mentioned above, and the resultant public disillusionment with government organizations, the ethical recapture of these organizations is imperative. This paper examines the latest recommendations contained in the King Report (King IV) with particular attention to ethics in leadership. It considers the question of whether King IV will be effective in promoting ethical leadership.