What does it take to remain good in an increasingly corrupt society? In Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, Kurtz is described as the ultimate product of Western civilisation. All Europe "contributed to the making" of him, and he went out to the Congo with the intention of exerting "a power for good practically unbounded". Yet by the time Marlow reaches him, the "powers of darkness" had "claimed him for their own… He had taken a high seat amongst the devils of the land - I mean, literally".

Marlow states: "You can't understand. How could you? - with solid pavement under your feet, surrounded by kind neighbours ready to cheer you or fall on you, stepping delicately between the butcher and the policeman, in the holy terror of scandal and gallows and lunatic asylums - how can you imagine what particular region of the first ages a man's untrammelled feet may take him into by way of solitude - utter solitude without a policeman - utter silence, where no warning voice of a kind neighbour can be heard whispering of public opinion? These little things make all the great difference. When they are gone you must fall back upon your own innate strength, upon your own capacity for faithfulness."

Conrad's book is commonly used to try to understand the pathologies of Africa and imperialism. But it seems to me that this passage provides an equally profound insight into the descent of Europe into the moral abyss following Hitler's rise to power in 1933.

There was a moment in March of that year in which opposition to the Nazi takeover simply collapsed. From here onwards, a kind of moral inversion occurred. The Nazis proceeded to subvert those things that keep ordinary people decent and honest - the concern at what a neighbour might say, consciousness of the watching policeman, the fear of the gallows - and direct them towards morally perverted ends. Over the next 12 years, the forces of darkness would progressively claim Germany and Europe for their own.

As Conrad notes, and the German example illustrates, where the restraining forces of the law and public opinion are absent, or completely twisted, there is really no limit to the evil that man can commit. Conversely, in most modern Western societies, the constraints are such that most people are prevented from doing much harm to others. In such a society, the only question the individual need ask is: "Is this permissible?" It is also the better qualities of individuals which are generally honoured and rewarded - and the worst which are shamed and punished.

South Africa is a far more morally treacherous place.

As our past history shows, majority opinion is not always a dependable guide to moral conduct. Mixed marriages were once almost universally regarded - at least by white opinion - as "an evil". Not so long ago the consensus in the mainstream English-language press was in favour of cadre deployment and the ANC's policy of "quiet diplomacy" towards Mugabe. Even today, the principle of "demographic representivity" goes largely unquestioned.

Thankfully, our newspapers are more pluralistic and critical than they used to be, and more intolerant of corruption within our ruling class. But this does not change the fact that our recent democratic reopening owes as much to the ambitions of bad men counteracting each other - or "nail knocking out nail" - as it does to good thumping evil.

There is also a strong drift in our society towards corruption. One sign of this is the fading power of the law. It seems that the criminal justice system is becoming so weakened that anyone stupid or arrogant enough to get caught can still escape real punishment provided they have the money to pay off the right policeman, or, at a grander level, employ lawyers to pursue a strategy of endless appeals.

The Scorpions are currently being dismantled because the powerful and the corrupt have finally had enough of living in holy terror of investigation, exposure and prosecution. Another is the way in which the morally flexible are able to progress rapidly onwards and upwards, whereas the good often find themselves knocked back. It is too often the businessmen who are willing to enter into mutually beneficial relationships with politicians who win the big government contracts and tenders.

Yet, for all this, one of the redeeming qualities of South African society is that it has thrown up individuals willing to take a stand against the prevailing power and opinion. The current predicament of Vusi Pikoli illustrates all that is good and bad about our country. Here is an individual who remained faithful to his constitutional obligations to prosecute without fear and favour, even though it cost him his position.

Such stubbornness has made him as threatening to the new ANC leadership as it did to the old, and they are hastening to get rid of him for good. ANC MPs, many of whom were shocked by his initial suspension, are now preparing to make his removal permanent. His successor will no doubt be someone who is sufficiently malleable, incompetent or corrupt, to be relied upon not to prosecute wrongdoing by senior officials.

So where does this leave the rest of us? In a society such as ours, it is dangerous to subcontract out our moral choices to our rulers or majority opinion. The key question has to be not whether something is allowable, or in one's self-interest, or will be applauded - but whether it is the right thing to do.

But it is no easy thing to avoid compromising with - or escape being compromised by - the more malign forces in this society. Where we fall down, and most of us will at some point or another, the choice is between going completely under or trying to pick ourselves up.

In these circumstances, sometimes we have to rely on the continued faith of others, in ourselves. "The earth for us is a place to live in," Marlow states, "where we must put up with sights, with sounds, with smells too, by Jove! - breathe dead hippo, so to speak, and not be contaminated. And there, don't you see? your strength comes in, the faith in your ability for the digging of unostentatious holes to bury the stuff in - your power of devotion, not to yourself, but to an obscure, back-breaking business."

James Myburgh is the editor of Politicsweb.co.za