By Editorial
In the late afternoon a week ago, residents of Beirut were going about their lives, with some enjoying late summer leisure activities.
Within a few minutes, their world would be blown to shreds as smoke billowed over the city of more than 2 million people while sirens wailed below, amid agonising screams and cries for help.
The details of what caused that explosion in Beirut’s harbour are, by now, well known. A fire there had set off a blast, which in turn was the catalyst for a much larger explosion when the flames reached 2 750 tons of ammonium nitrate stored there since 2014.
The second explosion had the force of a small nuclear weapon, destroying and damaging buildings within the port precinct, with the shock wave felt 240km away. More than 220 people have been confirmed dead, while 110 remain missing.
The tragedy in Beirut was years in the making. An inconclusive civil war that raged for 15 years resulted in a compromise that maintained the peace and benefited the politically connected elite, but not much else.
Since last year, ordinary Lebanese citizens have been on the streets, demanding a revolution and an end to corruption.
Because of rampant corruption, the government has been unable to provide the most basic services while unemployment stands at 25% and youth unemployment at 37%.
Thirty years after that peace agreement, the resultant corruption, mismanagement and systemic neglect has been devastating and resulted in a situation where the explosive material was stored at the country’s main harbour because no one could, or would, be held accountable.
The subsequent street protests have forced the Lebanese government to resign, the blast being the straw that ultimately broke the camel’s back.
Lebanon fits the narrow definition of a failed state.
While South Africans may bask in our perceived exceptionalism, the rampant corruption and mismanagement perpetrated by our political leaders is not too dissimilar from that experienced by the Lebanese.
Our finances might be in a better state, but for how long? What needs to happen is that confidence needs to be restored in the state, and for that to happen, corrupt officials should be prosecuted and jailed.
The Star