Preparations for World Summit on Sustainable Development

Meeting report

LAND AND ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS SELECT COMMITTEE
11 March 2002
PREPARATIONS FOR WORLD SUMMIT ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Chairperson: Rev. P. Moatshe

Documents handed out:
Powerpoint presentation by Ms. Davids
Other Powerpoint presenations:
Key Focus
Information Technologies
Finance and Administration
Marketing and Communications
Operations and Logistics
Road to Johannesburg

Relevant document:
Press release by SANGOCO (see Appendix)

SUMMARY
The Johannesburg World Summit Company briefed the Committee about the current status of preparation for the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD). It was hoped that the briefing will enable members of the committee to understand their role as members of Parliament in respect of the various constituents for the WSSD.

MINUTES
Ms. Thandi Davids, Executive Manager of the Johannesburg World Summit Company (JOWSCO), referred to the Powerpoint presentation which was a summary of a large bundle of documents given to committee members. She briefly outlined the status of the preparations for the summit as at the middle of March 2002.

The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development follows the Rio Conference of 1992, the focus of which was on the environment. Out of that conference a number of important protocols and legislation were formulated such as the Cartagena Protocol. Ten years down the line, the focus is on poverty eradication, trade and social issues. There are three clusters under which South Africa is negotiating: trade and related issues, the environment, and social issues. There are a number of areas which will undoubtedly overlap with these three areas, for example education. In terms of hosting the summit, Rio had 50 000 delegates which attended the summit and the majority of the delegates were from the global forum. In South Africa, 65 000 delegates are expected over the period of the summit.

The UN Summit which is the smallest part of the entire summit, will be held at the Sandton Conference Centre, and which houses a capacity of 6 000 people. The dates for the summit have been changed to 26 August - 4 September 2002. There will be a number of side events/conferences before the United Nations convenes the major summit on sustainable development. The Civil Society Global forum has been moved to the Nasrec, as Gallagher Estate was not available when the dates were changed, and it is expected that 50 000 delegates will attend that forum. She stated that people are working together across all sectors of civil society, and that it is not just a governmental responsibility to take the outcomes of the summit forward.

Ms Davids said that everything the IT platform had been configured so as to enable one to see what is going on inside the conference centres. Mayors from around the world will also be hosted; it is the people who drive change from within (local level and at municipal levels) that will attend the conference from the 27 to 30 August.

She said that during the summit, it is important to show the country in a positive light, to showcase its cultural heritage and this will be highlighted in the opening ceremony.

The tourism industry is finalizing its pre- and post-conference packages for delegates. There will be daily excursions in and around Gauteng, to expose sustainable development projects. The aim of the JOWSCO is to leave behind the resources from the Summit such as the call centers which can be integrated into Alexandria and the computers.

Of the 65 000 delegates expected to attend, 20 000 will attend the UN Conference. 5000 of these delegates will be governmental delegates from the member countries and observer states. She advised that the numbers are subject to change and once bookings are confirmed, the Committee will be kept posted on the figures.

Ms Davids stated that it is important to create an area where South Africa can showcase itself. In this regard, as an entire village called the "Ubuntu Village", at the Wanderers Stadium precinct, measuring 10 000 sq. metres and six storeys high will be open from the 10 August to 19 September 2002. The village will be open to the general public before the beginning of the conference and at the end of the conference. At the end of the conference, the United Cricket Board will utilize this structure for the 2003 World Cup. There will be a "welcome card" which will allow access into the village, health care facilities, transport and so on.

In the Ubuntu Village, an Ubuntu exhibition will be held and arts and crafts markets will be set up. There will be an Earth Arena, radio and television studios as well as an open university which will be run jointly with the University of Cape Town and the Smithsonian Institution in the United States.

The exhibition will be open to member and observer states to exhibit, as well as other major parties. It will, be divided into themes. Of the 5000 sq. metres allocated to this exhibition, two-thirds of the space has been subscribed.

Certain world bodies plan to have specific conferences wherein discussions relating to their areas can be held. The World Energy Council conference on energy related matters will take place then. There will be an environmental lawyers conference in Durban, and a tourism and sustainable development conference hosted by Cape Town.

Ms Davids spoke about accommodation, healthcare, transport, food and security requirements for the conference. Of the 80 000 beds available, 50 000 have been utilized. In zone 1, 16000 beds have been allocated to government. Outside that zone, Gauteng residents have been approached and asked to rent out their rooms to delegates. A grading Council will visit these homes to establish and fix prices. Training courses will be implemented to skill residents to host these delegates. Accommodation is to be linked with the FEDASA awards system.

Volunteers have been identified from the tertiary level as well as professional field. Universities and technikons have been approached for applicants, and at present they are compiling these applications.

Discussion
Ms Thompson (ANC) stated that this is undoubtedly an expensive summit. She asked about the level of involvement of ordinary citizens, as well as what would be the role of the provinces in the conference.

Ms. Davis replied that ordinary people/ citizens will not be directly involved with the summit preparations. However the lesson to be learnt about sustainable development will be invaluable. Only the people who live in Gauteng will be directly affected by the conference. Members of Parliament can help in terms of educating the people at grass roots level and together with the Department of Environmental Affairs it will be pertinent to know the issues and pass the information along to the community. In this respect marketing via television and radio would be of assistance.

The tourism board is actively involved to make pre- and post- conference packages for all provinces. This will filter down to everyone in the provinces in terms of tourism. There will also be the upliftment of hotels as large and the smaller hotels will have to cooperate with each other in terms of bookings and referrals. At present only the smaller hotel tenders have gone out.

In terms of provinces being involved with the summit, the transport tender will utilize transport vendors outside the Gauteng Province, and hence resources will be pooled from outside the provinces were possible.

Ms Dlulane (ANC) stated that this is an international conference and it is wrong to focus only on Gauteng. She asked what the role of the poor people in this conference would be, the role of Members of Parliament in advising the public of the summit and what the status of the Roadshows at present is.

With regards to the arts and crafts of local poor citizens from the different communities, Ms Davids said that this is an issue which the Department Arts and Culture will have to give input on. JOWSCO is merely involved with putting the logistics together for the summit, They are merely involved in putting up the kiosks for people to sell their wares, On how to get those people into the province to sell their wares is an issue with which they are not concerned.

The communication campaign and Roadshows will attempt to inform people at all levels about the aims and objectives of the summit. These will begin at the beginning of April. The purpose of which will be to inform the average citizen and to increase his understanding about sustainable development and to ensure that the people and the environment work as one. There is the need to inform people that they should not throw away a packet out of their vehicle, or cigarette stubs for that instance. Just to increase the basic education of the citizens and increase their awareness will be a great achievement. As long as people's mindsets after the conference is changed will be an achievement.

With regards to how MP's will market this summit, JOWSCO will do a comprehensive marketing presentation to show how parliamentarians will be integrated - a working meeting will be held in this regard shortly.

Mr Nyakhane(UDM) asked how the summit will directly impact positively with people on the ground level with specific reference to those who live in the Northern Province and peripheral areas.

Mr Kgware stated that there are still high profile people who are not aware of the Summit. He stated that perhaps an invitation should be handed to all Members of Parliament to advise them of the objectives of the summit.
In terms of information dissemination, Ms Davids replied that the main communication drive will start by the end of the month. She advised that there is hope to bring on board Members of Parliament onto the Roadshows, and the information can be filtered down into the community from these high profile members.

Ms Majodina (ANC) said that whilst she appreciates the fact that excursions around Soweto will be undertaken to identify rural sustainable development, will there be excursions into the poorest areas of different provinces which will be undertaken
Ms. Davids pointed out that JOWSCO is only involved with delivering logistics for the summit and has no knowledge of the political aspect of the issues.

Mr. Kgware stated that volunteers would not be remunerated. What would be the position where a volunteer is injured on the job and whether the state is going to be held liable for this or deny liability?
Ms. Davids responded that they are in the process of doing Risk Assessment with the Auditors and insurers to look at the type of insurance which will be required to cover these situations.

With regards to what extent tourism will impact from this summit, JOWSCO and the tourism board are working in conjunction to assess pre-and post- summit tours There is a coordination committee in place and packages will be vetted by the committee according to a list of criteria. More information on these will be made available once in possession by JOWSCO.

Ms Thompson stated that a security company has been hired to ensure the safety of delegates. She asked which company it was, and hoped it was a company from the Black Economic Empowerment sector, and not some large company that is well established.

To this end the chair noted that the question of security is an extremely important issue, and asked whether in addition, the defense force has been involved or police/ security intervention from other countries are invited for the summit. He further enquired whether Sandton residents only will be allowed to rent out the rooms or whether people in Soweto and Alexandria will be able to partake in this.

Ms Davids remarked that the security company has not yet been appointed. SAPS is merely handling all the security requirements She suggested that some person from SAPS brief the committee on this issue.

Working very closely with the price fixing issue, the South African grading council will recommend pricing of the rooms/ homesteads to be rented out, to ensure no exploitation, overcharging or astronomical figures will be asked for the facilities. She stated that it would be a lot easier to stay in Soweto. Zone 1 is the greater Sandton area, and is specifically set aside for Government delegates and head of States. Other delegates will be staying outside of that zone. She stated that 19 new Bed And Breakfast establishments are up and running, and by the time of the summit, Alexandria will have 40 new Bed and Breakfast established which will remain operative even after the summit has ended. She advised that the figures for Soweto are not available as yet.

Mr. Kgware stated with reference to marketing, how is this summit marketed, and what is the question of visibility. Ms Davids replied that the Roadshows will cater for marketing the summit.

Another member asked if provision was made for protests and marches as this is a high profile summit and people will want to express their feelings bearing in mind the need for freedom of expression, however doing it responsibly.
With respect to areas of protest, Ms Davids replied that the Ubunti Village will be the expression headquarters There will be provision for a speaker's corner for people to express themselves in any way, so long a sit is non-violent and does not impact on the rights of others. SAPS will be involved with crowd control. Marches will commence from the Wanderers Stadium, pass the Sandton Conference Centre and return to the Ubuntu Village. Metro Police and other Departments such as health will ensure that medical personnel are on hand to remove those injured if the need arises.

Mr. Windvoel (ANC) stated that in future briefings the relevant departments should be present and a collective presentation be given. For example, the police, Tourism boards etc. should be present.
The chair stated that the stake holders should be present to brief the committee and he will look into regularizing this for future briefings.

Ms. Versfeld (DP) pointed out the fear that members premiers and the 'whose who' will be invited and the parliamentarians will be left out. She stated that whilst this committee is talking about sustainable development, there is the problem of Langebaan which is being washed away by erosion. What will this committee do about it, and it should put its money where its mouth is.

Ms. Dlulane (ANC) said that she was not happy about the category into which MP's fall in this summit. She said that this question was raised previously and nobody could answer it. She stated that the Roadshows are scheduled for a period during the Easter vacation in Port Elizabeth, as a result students will not be at school, and she suggested that even MEC's do not know about the dates for these Roadshows.
Ms Davids stated that she will follow up on amending the dates.

Another member suggested that there are other Select Committees and Portfolio Committees which are dealing with the Summit, and expressed the concern that they as Members
Of Parliament do no be left out.
The chair stated that it will be unfortunate for the committee to be left out of a project which they helped spearhead. He will continue to raise this issue to ensure there continued involvement.

Ms. Davids said that with respect to the MP's involvement, the decision of who represents the South African Government is a decision which is made by the Government. This question will be answered by the Department of Foreign Affairs who will be responsible for the selection of representatives.

The Chair thanked Ms Davids for her presentation and the meeting was adjourned.

Appendix:
14 March 2002

WSSD CIVIL SOCIETY MULTI-STAKEHOLDER FORUM
"NEW BROOM SWEEPS THE WSSD SECRETARIAT"

The South African Non-Governmental Organisation Coalition (Sangoco) has reclaimed the leadership of the WSSD Secretariat (previously commissioned to the Rural Development Services Network) with immediate effect, and is moving swiftly to clean up the body responsible for the administrative organisation of the civil society section of the upcoming World Summit on Sustainable Development.

A first step toward effecting this clean-up has been the immediate suspension of WSSD Secretariat CEO Jaqui Brown yesterday, in terms of the findings of a forensic audit commissioned by the National Development Agency (NDA), a key funder of the Secretariat.

Sangoco President Zakes Hlatshwayo will act as interim CEO of the Secretariat.

Ms Brown has been presented with a list of charges, including several counts of gross misconduct related to her failure to follow accepted policies and procedures in respect of various payments from the WSSD budget, many of which have exposed the Secretariat to unnecessary taxation penalties and other serious consequences.

Sangoco's action is fully supported by the recently reconstituted and united WSSD Civil Society Multi-Stakeholder Forum (including both Cosatu and Sanco), and the Management Council of this forum cordially invites all media interested in the success of the WSSD to attend an urgent press conference today, March 14, at 2pm in the NEW Nedlac offices at 14A Jellicoe Avenue in Rosebank.

The Management Council, and Sangoco in particular, will discuss the findings of the NDA audit, and announce an immediate plan of action to remedy the many problems cited by the report.

The WSSD Civil Society Multi-Stakeholder Forum was formed following the successful mediation process introduced by Sangoco to resolve previous representation conflicts which had plagued the former Civil Society Indaba. The new forum comprises seven sectors, namely women, NGOs, youth, labour, disabled, interfaith and civics.

The Management Council which will address today's press conference includes representatives from several of these sectors, including Cosatu. The press conference will therefore also offer the media an opportunity to clear the confusion created by recent incorrect reports of ongoing divisions within South African civil society WSSD structures.

ISSUED BY: The South African NGO Coalition (Sangoco).

FOR MORE INFO: Contact Sangoco President Zakes Hlatshwayo on 083-459-6274 or Sangoco Exective Director Abie Ditlhake on 082-411-2946.