Towards a Code of Cyberethics for a Municipality in South Africa

Cybertechnology has had a significant impact on our social and moral systems. Ethics is a branch of philosophy that deals with what is considered to be right and wrong. One of the ways in which ethical standards in the public service in South Africa can be promoted is by developing Codes of Conduct that set a standard of behaviour to be followed within specific occupational categories. One occupational category is Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). The diversity of ICT applications (such as supply chain management) and the increased use of ICT (such as e-Business) have created a variety of ethical issues. Kantian Ethics is based on the idea that duty is fundamental and ‘principle based’. The authors suggest that principle based theory should serve as backdrop to a Code of Cyberethics for a public service entity (a metropolitan municipality) in South Africa. In this paper the concepts of cybertechnology and cyberethics are introduced. eThekwini Municipality, the most populous municipality in South Africa, is selected as the environment for the formulation of a Code of Cyberethics. The methodology for the formulation of a Code of Cyberethics for eThekwini Municipality is described