Citizens‚ too‚ had a responsibility – that of oversight and engagement.‘Commissions a buzzword for a government under pressure‚’ former Wits student leader saysCommissions‚ like the one on free tertiary education‚ are being used by government as a tactic to “delay things and not address the problems that we face”. The bishop of the Diocese of Maropeng of the Ethiopian Episcopal Church was speaking on the role of ethics in democratic society at the Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection conference in Midrand on Friday.The Constitution binds us all: former Justice MokgoroFormer Justice Yvonne Mokgoro has called on all South Africans to go back to the values enshrined in the Constitution to see how everyone in the country should behave. For the past two days‚ academics‚ business and religious leaders have been debating ethics in the current South Africa‚ with all agreeing that the status quo cannot remain.“The people that work in government are servants of the public. Government becomes necessary when you have the diversity of group interest and that needs to be regulated and managed for the best interest of most‚” Mpumlwana said.“It then becomes a decision of this public to say‚ in order to regulate our affairs effectively we need some instrument and it is called the state ... A government‚ therefore‚ is the agency of the people in the state.“But the state itself is not government but the embodiment of the public‚” he told the conference.He argued that the relations between the government and people must be that of a master and servant‚ the government being the servant.“That is why we call them ministers‚ which means servant ... that is why I bring [the debate] back to the ethic of duty in African culture of ubuntu. It says what matters is what do I owe in terms of duty to the next person‚ rather than what I'm owed myself by being in a position‚” said the bishop.He urged society not to abandon its responsibility of providing oversight over all that government does.“It would be unethical for citizens to abandon their responsibility for oversight and engagement. For healthy ethics of democracy it is important for citizens to pay attention to the ethic of belief that they talk about to avoid the wrongdoings of an unethical government‚” he saidBusiness leaders expressed frustration at the rot in the current ANC leadership and its effect on society. Youth leaders said the government had failed poor children and students by not immediately addressing the call for free education.Different views were expressed about how ethical leadership can be restored‚ but the consensus was that all parts of society should play their role to achieve this...