Originally published in the Unashamedly Ethical newsletter, November 2024.
“I strive to commit to refuse to elicit, accept or pay any bribes and to encourage others to do the same.”
Most bribes do not look like bribes.
They look like a little something to speed up a licence. A “thank you” for a favourable decision. A gift at year-end from a supplier who would like to keep the contract. A cold drink for the official who can make the paperwork move.
We give them friendly names because the real name makes us uncomfortable.
Our fourth commitment uses the real name. And it covers every side of the transaction: we will not ask for a bribe, we will not accept one and we will not pay one.
The cost we all carry
The scale of bribery is difficult to imagine. The United Nations Secretary-General has cited World Bank estimates that businesses and individuals pay more than one trillion US dollars in bribes every year.
But the real cost is not measured only in money.
Every bribe moves a decision away from merit. The tender goes to the company that paid, not the one that would have built the better road. The licence goes to the applicant who knew whom to pay. The inspection is passed by the building that should have failed.
And someone always pays for that. Usually it is the people with the least power to object: the patient in an under-supplied clinic, the learner in an unsafe school, the honest business that loses the contract it deserved.
That is why no bribe is ever small. The amount may be small. The consequences seldom are.
When refusing feels impossible
I want to be honest about how hard this commitment can be.
For many people, a bribe is not a temptation. It is a demand. It stands between them and something they genuinely need: a permit, a service, a job, a fair hearing. Refusing can mean delay, lost business or being shut out altogether.
This commitment does not pretend that pressure away. It asks us to hold our position anyway, and it recognises that holding it alone is very difficult.
That is precisely why a movement matters. When people in a sector, a community or an organisation refuse together, the demand loses its power. One person saying no is vulnerable. Many people saying no change what is expected.
It is also why the law matters. In South Africa, the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act makes both offering and accepting a bribe an offence. Reporting channels, both in organisations and through the authorities, exist so that no one has to carry this alone.
Encouraging others
The final words of this commitment are easy to overlook: “and to encourage others to do the same”.
It is not enough to keep our own hands clean while the system around us stays the same. We are asked to make refusal easier for others.
In practice, that can mean:
- Being open about where we stand, so that people know not to ask.
- Supporting colleagues who refuse, rather than leaving them isolated.
- Raising concerns through the proper channels when we see something wrong.
- In leadership, building organisations where saying no to a bribe is protected and rewarded, not punished.
Each refusal strengthens the next one. That is how a culture changes: one decision, and then another, until honesty becomes the expected thing to do.
If you are ready to say no, and to stand with others who do, add your name to the Ethical Commitment at unashamedlyethical.com/commitment.
Yours in ethics,
Ilene Power