African Economic Integration Development in Technological Transformation: Accessing the Importance of Ethical Leadership for Policy Implementation in SADC

Abstract

Most African states have suffered from severe macroeconomic disequilibria, foreign debt service burdens, and over-valued currencies. The lack of ethical leadership on policy implementation has led most Africa countries to linger highly behind in terms of development. Many countries are reliant on agriculture and yet suffer from high levels of unemployment and food insecurity on the continent. In these situations, it is logical for one to expect the full integration of Africa in terms of trade and migration, using the Southern African sub-regional integration as a case study. This study looks at the Southern African economic integration development and the importance of having ethical leadership for policy implementation. Qualitatively, this paper collected data and analysis them based on content, using secondary sources from different domains. The neo-Functionalist theory was applied and findings show that there is a failure to meet set targets in the SADC plan which has established a bad precedent for the sub-regions for African development, the failure is seen as lacking ethical leadership. It recommends that there is a need for African states to improve its infrastructure, recognise the capacity of the private sector to generate wealth and induce development, with open economies to member’s states.

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

“…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.…”

“…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).…”

“…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".…”