Page 19 - IRMSA Risk Report 2020

At this stage in our country’s history, risk management has never been more important. Already, many risks have materialised
but in their wake a whole new set of risks have emerged. We, as a nation, as organisations and as individuals must identify
these risks clearly, and put the necessary strategies in place to mitigate them.

This was the overall theme of the address to the IRMSA Risk Conference in October 2019 by Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng.
He said that we need “to prevent new risks from emerging while we manage those that already exist – with a view to reduce
them or minimise them and to hopefully eliminate or leverage them in the long run.”

The Chief Justice set the context by correctly noting that our approach to risk must be informed by the shared national vision
embodied in our Constitution. He emphasised that this vision incorporates the fact that there were injustices in the past, and
that they need to be redressed or they will continue to constitute risks to our democracy and erode the social capital on
which every nation depends:

What is it that we are called upon to do as individuals and as the citizenry of South Africa? How will we make sure that those injustices
of the past do not continue to pose the risk they posed in the past? How do we eliminate them so that we can become the stable,
peaceful and prosperous nation that we all desire to be?

In order to emphasise the importance of mitigating the current risks that South Africa faces, Chief Justice Mogoeng went on
to liken the risk manager or chief risk officer of today to the freedom fighter of yesteryear. He argued that any risk professional
who truly did the right and just thing would run into strong opposition; like the freedom fighters of the past, he or she might
find themselves under threat and even having to go into hiding. Job security could be threatened.

However, whatever the dangers, it is important that risk professionals, along with everybody who lives in this country, play
their part in making sure that South Africa truly belongs to all who live in it. We have to take this commitment to a vision of a
shared South Africa as seriously as the freedom fighters took their battle. This level of commitment is essential, he said, for us
to “move towards the realisation of a shared, peaceful, stable, and prosperous South Africa for the sake of our children.”

Having set the vision in its proper context, the Chief Justice proceeded to outline what he felt needed to be done in order to
make it possible for all South Africans to realise their potential, and to build a united country that has come to terms with its
past. He framed his analysis in terms of the major risks the nation faces, and what could be done about them.

Greed. He identified greed—for money, for fame and for power—as one of the major obstacles to achieving the South Africa
outlined in the Constitution. Corruption, he added, is the direct consequence of greed. “Imagine if every leader at every level
was not driven by greed but by the need to have our shared vision realised?” he asked.

Corruption is a direct consequence of greed, as is climate change. The latter is a particularly important risk because Africa is set
to bear the brunt of climate change.

Speaking of climate change, the fact is that the environmental laws and the people to enforce them already exist, as do the
risk managers who have long identified the risks posed by environmental degradation.

But, said the Chief Justice, many people only do their job if they can see a benefit in it for themselves. Does it improve their
chances of promotion, or increase their income? If not, then they simply do not act. Such people ignore things that nobody
with a shred of conscience would ignore. And even when people are prepared to speak out, some of them do so more out of
a desire to obtain positive publicity, to build their profiles. This “approval addiction” means that we only do what will gain us
public acclaim.

Leadership. Leadership that is ineffective, and above all unethical, is another of the major risks the country faces. He pointed
out that out of the more than 250 municipalities in the country, only 18 received clean audits. It seems as though all levels of
leadership in our municipalities, including their risk managers, simply did not notice the downward spiral—or perhaps simply
didn’t care.

Crime and corruption. We have actually allowed crime to become fashionable in South Africa, said the Chief Justice. “When
corruption and organised crime flourish, sustainable development and economic growth are stunted,” he added. He quoted
Secretary General of the United Nations Kofi Annan:

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