From Principles to Practice | Kamini Govender | AI Ethics Navigator
This is the final episode in the Navigating King V: AI Governance in South Africa series on AI Ethics Navigator.
Episodes 1 and 2 explored the ethical foundations and board-level accountability introduced by King V, drawing on Ubuntu, impact materiality, and the non-delegable responsibility of boards when AI systems shape organisational decisions.
This concluding episode addresses the remaining question boards are now facing:
How is ethical AI governance actually implemented in practice?
In this solo episode, Kamini Govender moves decisively from principle to execution, setting out how boards can translate King V’s ethical and governance expectations into workable governance mechanisms, clear accountability, and demonstrable assurance when AI systems are already embedded across organisations.
Rather than focusing on theory or emerging regulation, this conversation centres on what boards must put in place now.
In this episode, we explore:
• Why King V shifts ethics from aspiration to demonstrable governance, and why values without mechanisms fail in practice.
• How board accountability for AI differs from operational execution, and why “AI as an IT issue” is a governance failure.
• The core governance structures boards need to oversee AI-driven decision-making, including ownership, visibility, decision rights, risk integration, and assurance.
• How Ubuntu functions not only as an ethical philosophy, but as a practical governance lens shaping impact materiality, escalation thresholds, and board judgment.
• What global AI governance practice is converging on, and why South Africa must adapt — not import — international frameworks.
• The most common failures boards make when governing AI, and why ethics must be treated as auditable and evidence-based.
This episode positions King V not as a compliance exercise, but as a test of whether boards can govern power, technology, and human impact with clarity and courage.
Episode length: 28 minutes
Series: Navigating King V: AI Governance in South Africa (Episode 3 of 3)
Connect: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kamini-govender
