Africa-Press – Eswatini. With a booming voice and piercing conviction, former South African Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng shook Eswatini’s accounting fraternity on Thursday night, declaring: “My soul is not for sale!”
Delivering the keynote address at the Eswatini Institute of Accountants’ (ESIA) Annual Dinner and Graduation Ceremony, Mogoeng warned that ethical leadership has become an endangered species.
“A genuine commitment to ethical leadership is not only career-limiting but also life-threatening. You can suddenly shift from being a hero to being a villain, or have your life mysteriously ended,” he told a captivated audience of cabinet ministers, South African delegates, captains of industry, and 16 proud graduates.
The 4th Chief Justice of South Africa, Mogoeng is a towering figure in African jurisprudence, remembered for his fearless judgments and his insistence on principled leadership.
Born in 1961 in Goo-Mokgatlh, North West Province, he rose from humble beginnings to become one of the continent’s most outspoken voices against corruption.
He has never shied away from controversy, famously putting integrity above popularity throughout his decade on the Constitutional Court bench.
At Esibayeni Lodge, he urged leaders to abandon the dangerous game of political correctness.
“True leaders subscribe to ethical correctness, not political correctness, because the latter often leads to abandoning the very values you once claimed to treasure,” he declared.
Mogoeng drew from history, reminding the audience that icons like Patrice Lumumba, Thomas Sankara and Steve Biko paid the ultimate price for standing by their convictions.
“Apart from money, fame, power and positions, what are you and I willing to die for?” he challenged.
He also invoked Fred Smith Snr’s book Leading With Integrity, saying that self-respect is the bedrock of ethical leadership.
“When the little honest me inside says, ‘get lost, you’re a phony,’ then I know I’ve lost my self-respect.”
Prime Minister Russell Mmiso Dlamini, responding to the speech, said accountants and auditors are the “cornerstone of trust in society.”
He urged the graduates to embrace the noble values of integrity and accountability, describing graduation as “a beginning, not an end.”
ESIA Chairperson Makhosazana Mhlanga added that ethical leadership is “an obligation, not an aspiration.”
The ceremony also saw the launch of the Learning and Professional Development Committee, which will drive growth and excellence in the profession.
But while 16 new accountants were honoured, the night ultimately belonged to Justice Mogoeng’s uncompromising message, that leadership without ethics is leadership without a soul.
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