You might be perplexed by the debate in the governing ANC on the step-aside rule. Should the rule stay or go? What does the rule say? What should the public make of this “debate”, which has become a hot-button issue at the policy conference in Johannesburg?

In this audio explainer, TimesLIVE contributor and analyst Eusebius McKaiser grapples with the difference between law and ethics. He argues ethics must be distinguished from law. In turn, ethical leadership in our body politic is important. He explains this broader context in which a step-aside rule can be formulated.

He also explains the ethical intuitions behind such a rule, and how it might be implemented. This explainer audio ends with a provocative discussion about why many ANC comrades resist embracing a culture of voluntarily stepping aside when they are implicated in wrongdoing. Sceptically, McKaiser concludes that poor regard for the general value and importance of ethical leadership accounts for why the ANC is divided over an issue that ought not to be a controversial matter.