How Culture Contributed to the Custom Market Tragedy (OPINION)

Juba, 8 December 2025 — One of the underlying problems that may have fuelled the unstoppable fire at Custom Market on 1 December 2025 was, unfortunately, rooted in a broader issue that I would describe as a negative social norm or a culture of lawlessness among many South Sudanese.

It is a painful truth, but one that must be spoken. Many South Sudanese tend to resist order. We dislike open spaces, mistrust anything that appears empty, and instinctively assume that any unoccupied area is free, useless, and wasted unless someone rushes to claim it. For the purpose of this article, I refer to this behaviour as a negative social norm or a culture of lawlessness.

This article specifically examines how this cultural tendency to disregard law and order acted as a silent factor that intensified the fire, distorted policy implementation, undermined the original market design, and ultimately contributed significantly to the scale of the tragedy.

Information suggests that Custom Market was originally demarcated with clear pathways and structured streets, intentionally designed to enable smooth commercial movement. These paths were spacious — wide enough for trucks transporting goods, traders restocking their shops, and customers moving freely. The market was planned with foresight, logic and safety in mind.

It is evident that upon entering the market, the shops are arranged in deliberate rows, with clearly defined pathways to ease movement and enhance business. Yet the persistent failure to respect this layout has reduced the area to a maze of disorder, making the market appear chaotic and painfully disorganised.

The market was built with makeshift structures (iron sheets and timber) rather than durable materials such as concrete blocks or reinforced constructions, highlighting its temporary nature. However, the reality on the ground slowly drifted from this original intention. Over time, permanent looking structures emerged, contradicting the temporary purpose the market was meant to uphold and leading to a setup far beyond what was planned.

Immediately after shop allocation, a troubling pattern emerged. Traders began invading the verandas. Makeshift extensions made of carpets, tarpaulins, and rusty iron sheets stretched across the walkways like wild wings. Goods spilled beyond the shop boundaries, choking the space and swallowing the very paths meant to keep the market functional. Before long, the organised layout dissolved into a maze. Streets became corridors of congestion.

Even worse, vendors intentionally displayed their merchandise along the roads: heaps of vegetables, sacks of groundnuts, fish, second hand clothes, shoes, and countless other items. Many traders refused to use the designated shops and instead preferred open spaces, the same spaces meant for the movement of goods and services, not for selling. Some streets even became makeshift taxi parks. What was meant to be a market with order slowly transformed into a giant, overcrowded storage yard. Motorbikes and rickshaws could barely move through the chaos.

From a security perspective, this arrangement was a ticking time bomb. When the fire broke out, it was no surprise that fire brigade trucks could not penetrate the burning market even when they eventually arrived.

How could they pass? Which shop could they demolish simply to carve a path towards the flames? These are not ordinary questions; they are strategic security concerns that must be addressed whenever markets like Custom Market are established.

This issue is not unique to Custom Market. It occurs in most major markets in Juba  such as Konyo-Konyo, Suk Libya and Kuburi Habuba. Several of these markets have already experienced similar fires. Evidence and past experience show that fire brigade trucks or water trucks often struggle to intervene swiftly because narrow pathways and overcrowded stalls severely obstruct emergency access.

All of the above stems from the same negative social norm or culture of lawlessness, resisting order, disliking open spaces, mistrusting anything empty, and instinctively believing that any free space must be claimed immediately.

Unfortunately, policy implementers also fell into this cultural trap. Driven by sympathy or political correctness, they allowed vendors to occupy streets simply because they were “hustling to feed their families.” The crucial security requirement  that streets must remain clear for emergencies was pushed aside.

This problem reflects a national habit: South Sudan has good laws and regulations, but the failure to enforce them makes the country appear almost stateless. Unless we confront this cultural tendency to ignore rules, tragedies like the Custom Market blaze will continue to haunt us.

Calibration

It is important to emphasise that respecting empty public spaces designated by the government is essential for orderly development and public safety. These open areas especially streets in markets  are not wasted spaces. They are vital buffers for emergencies, future infrastructure, and public recreation. When citizens respect these spaces, cities grow in a planned and sustainable manner. Encroaching on them creates congestion, increases disaster risks, and undermines long term development goals.

The path forward requires firm action and unwavering commitment. Government policies and laws must not remain decorative documents. They must be enforced consistently, without hesitation or selective application. Anyone who intentionally obstructs or sabotages the implementation of public regulations must be held fully accountable, investigated, charged, and sentenced according to the law, without fear or favour.

Enforcement agencies must be empowered with the necessary authority and resources. Public awareness must also be expanded to ensure citizens understand why such regulations exist and how they protect collective safety. Only through consistent enforcement, responsible leadership and civic cooperation can we prevent the chaos, losses and tragedies that result from unchecked lawlessness.

While South Sudanese must embrace a culture of respecting law and order, the government has a crucial role in guiding them. Like a parent teaching a child, authorities must demonstrate the correct path, enforcing rules consistently and leading by example. Through patient guidance, enforcement and civic education, citizens can gradually internalise these principles and adapt to a society governed by law.

Otherwise, this negative social norm or culture of lawlessness becomes a serious security threat, endangering lives and livelihoods. In security studies, this falls under the concept of human security, a framework developed when scholars recognised that security extends beyond state protection. Human security focuses on safeguarding individuals from disasters, violence, neglect and instability, and it demands policies that protect people’s well being in everyday life.‎

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