In the grand, rotting theater of human endeavor, there is a particular brand of comedy that only a government-funded lottery can provide. It is the comedy of the 'Ethics Consultant.' In South Africa, a place where corruption is less of a political scandal and more of a national pastime, we have reached the inevitable event horizon of satire: ProEthics and its director, Dr. Janette Minnaar, have been ordered to pay back millions in lottery funds. One must step back and admire the sheer, unadulterated gall required to name a company 'ProEthics' while allegedly suckling at the teat of a captured state institution. It is the linguistic equivalent of a wolf wearing a 'Pro-Sheep' badge while picking wool out of its teeth.

For those who haven’t been paying attention—and who could blame you, given the terminal boredom of global kleptocracy—the National Lottery Commission (NLC) has long served as a convenient ATM for the politically connected. While the lottery is theoretically designed to fund sports, arts, and charities for the impoverished, it has instead functioned as a generous venture capital fund for mansions, luxury cars, and, most hilariously, 'ethics training.' The NLC, apparently sensing that their blatant looting might look bad to the few remaining citizens who still pay taxes, decided they needed a moral makeover. Enter ProEthics.

There is something profoundly depressing about the realization that 'ethics' has become a commodity to be bought with stolen money. It is the ultimate cynical loop. A government body steals from the poor, then uses a portion of those stolen funds to hire a private firm to teach them why stealing is wrong. It’s not just a conflict of interest; it’s a philosophical void. Dr. Minnaar and her firm were reportedly paid millions to provide 'services' that, in any sane world, would consist of a single sentence: 'Stop taking money that isn't yours.' Instead, we got the usual corporate slurry of PowerPoint presentations and high-minded rhetoric, all funded by the very people the NLC was supposed to be helping.

But the comedy doesn't stop at the invoice. When the news outlet GroundUp—a group of pesky individuals who still believe in the archaic concept of 'accountability'—started digging into these payments, ProEthics didn’t respond with a humble admission of irony. No, they did what every cornered grifter does: they went to court. They attempted to gag the press, trying to stop the publication of details regarding their financial entanglement with the NLC. There is no greater admission of guilt in the 21st century than a pre-emptive strike on a journalist’s right to speak. If your ethics are so robust, why do they require a high-court injunction to keep them from the light of day? The irony is so thick you could choke on it; a company dedicated to 'integrity' using the legal system to hide its bank statements.

The Special Tribunal has finally stepped in, ordering the repayment of these funds because, as it turns out, the contracts were as hollow as the moral platitudes they sold. This is the part where the public is supposed to cheer, thinking that 'justice' has been served. But let’s be honest: this is merely a cosmetic surgery on a terminal patient. For every ProEthics that gets caught, there are a dozen 'Strategic Management' firms and 'Sustainability Consultants' doing the exact same thing. The Left will scream about the lack of oversight, while the Right will use it as proof that public institutions shouldn't exist—ignoring the fact that it was a private 'Ethics' company that facilitated the rot. Both sides are, as usual, missing the point: the system is designed to reward the performative over the actual.

We live in an era where the veneer of morality is far more profitable than morality itself. You don't actually have to be ethical; you just have to have a company name that says you are. You don't have to help the poor; you just have to fund a workshop where you talk about helping the poor. The National Lottery Commission didn't want to be ethical; they wanted the receipt for an ethics course to file away for the next audit. It is a pantomime of governance. Dr. Minnaar and her associates aren't outliers; they are the logical conclusion of a society that has replaced character with compliance. The only thing more pathetic than the grift itself is the fact that anyone is still surprised by it. We are trapped in a cycle of institutionalized theft, managed by people who have the audacity to lecture us on the way down. Pay back the money? Sure. But you can't pay back the dignity of a nation that has been taught that even 'Ethics' is just another word for 'Theft.'