With the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown, South Africans and all the different sectors of the country are faced with moral dilemmas, and the best way to manage this is to turn to moral resilience.

This was indicated by speakers during a webinar held by independent public institute, the Ethics Institute, on May 11; during which the organisation also launched its Codes of Ethics Handbook.

The Ethics Handbook Series forms part of the institute’s thought leadership, containing practical and leading practice guidance for professionals working in the ethics and related fields.

Each is themed according to a different aspect of organisational ethics.

The book launched on May 11 was dedicated to University of Stellenbosch Business School Ethics director and professor Piet Naudé.

During the webinar, Naudé identified several major ethical challenges facing people and institutions during the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown. He indicated that moral dilemmas were where choices were faced that were neither right nor wrong, requiring tough decisions to be made.

He noted that the State faced a magnitude of moral dilemmas, including preserving democracy versus how much it needs to curtail persons' freedom to combat the spread of the virus – that is, freedom versus lockdown.

Moreover, it has to choose between biological life and economic life, as well as balancing the relationship between the two.

Moreover, in terms of monetary distribution, the State will have to take tough decisions in terms of allocating scarce resources, by choosing between important and good things versus diverting these funds to fighting the virus.

Another sector facing moral dilemmas is the healthcare sector, which has to choose between its first rule of do no harm versus prioritising space for Covid-19 patients. For example, normal patients are being denied access to medical facilities as these are being prepared for a future peak in Covid-19 infections.

Moreover, medical practitioners will have to choose who to prioritise when the peak hits, such as deciding whether the elderly or those with underlying conditions are given access to facilities with the best resources and chances of survival.

In terms of higher education, institutions face the dilemma of having to implement online learning, which many students will not be able to access.

Further, there are dilemmas such as whether students should continue to pay for accommodation, given that they are not using them at present, versus making the university’s budget accommodate for this shortfall.

For businesses, the dilemmas include choosing between retrenching some staff or requiring all staff to take a salary cut.

Ordinary citizens, meanwhile, face dilemmas such as choosing between their own safety and the challenges of staying inside; as well as staying inside for their safety versus breaking the law and going outside either for personal gain or to source income.

Co-author of the book Professor Deon Rossouw explained that moral resilience, in terms of the Latin meaning, meant to "jump back" – therefore, recovering from a difficult and challenging situation, which is exactly what dealing with Covid-19 calls for – continuously coming back from challenging and tough situations and having the ability to bounce back and recover from difficult times.

A lack of this, he warned, would be detrimental as it would cause people to feel a sense of meaninglessness, which demoralises and de-energises them.  

Therefore, Professor Thuli Madonsela emphasised the need to have an approach that looked to the future instead of focusing solely on the short term.

This was echoed by Rossouw, who also indicated that people should look beyond just what was good for themselves, and act in manner that was beneficial to society as a whole – rather than making an exception for themselves in terms of the rules.

However, adhering to this ethical compass and having moral resilience was complicated by two things, noted Madonsela.

Mainly, when the justice of the rules and laws became questionable, and secondly, when people were surrounded by wrongdoing including by those who are supposed to be enforcing the law.

Naudé said moral resilience therefore needed to be restored, across all sectors of society.

This required competency, trust, communication and a sense of caring from leadership.

Madonsela, meanwhile, called for the decision-making process around regulations to be more inclusive. She noted that when the initial State of Disaster was declared and during the early stages, it was probably correct to take decisions alone and without involving much bureaucracy, owing to the need to make quick decisions and the severity of the situation.

However, now that the situation had evolved and was set to continue for a long time, she stated that it was absolutely necessary to involve different parties, such as traditional, faith, and business leaders, to ensure ideas were 'crowd-sourced', which would create buy-in and greater compliance.

She noted that this was accommodated for in the State of Disaster Act.