Publication - Did the WSSD listen to the poor?

Sindisiwe Ngcobo, Coordinator : Network for Advocacy on Water Issues in Southern Africa

The long awaited World Summit on Sustainable Development is finally over. Considering it was the biggest ever UN conference, and that its aims and objectives were to review the agreements made in Rio in 1992 and to identify areas needing attention, it is doubtful that it managed to address the needs of the poor.

The first outrageous incident was the US$150 registration required to register for the Global People’s Forum at NASREC. This left poor people on the outside and unable to share their experiences with other affected communities. Was the Global Forum focused on poverty eradication or consumption and profit?

The official UN Summit at Sandton had its own shortcomings. The conference venue was far too small to accommodate all accredited delegates. This was highlighted by protesters outside the Sandton Convention Centre, who claimed that civil society’s voice was not being heard. Was a too-small venue chosen intentionally, or was this just a coincidence? Planned or not, in Sandton, the poor where nowhere to be seen.

The Johannesburg Summit Company (Josco) did extremely well to organize transport to different Summit venues, which enabled people to get to different side events without too much. The problem lay with the cost of the US$60 “Welcome Card”. Many could not afford this and ended up paying exorbitant amounts to meter taxis anyway. They claimed in turn to have paid huge amounts of money to Josco’s transport management for permission to transport summit delegates. Getting around to the various Summit venues was strictly for those who could afford to pay.

Another incident that shocked me was when police started threw stun grenades at peaceful marchers, leaving three of them injured. The comrades were heading off from Wits Campus to Johannesburg Central Police Station on a loud but peaceful evening march, holding candles hands. They were protesting against police brutality and the recent detention of fellow activists. Police action against the marchers on the 24th of August made me wonder what happened to freedom of expression in South Africa although we claim to be a democratic country.

Since my main interest is in water justice issues, I spent much of my time at the WaterDome, a major parallel venue dedicated to water issues. Unfortunately, it largely reflected the private sector’s idea of sustainable development and water – with a optimistic emphasis on privatization. Not everyone shares the same point of view, and for many people, privatization of services is a last resort. Some past experiences show that privatization of services, especially water, increases the divide between rich and poor, and benefit only those who can afford to pay. Additionally, privatization brings about the loss of many jobs, which exacerbates poverty. The governments who are lobbying for privatization of services will end up carrying a burden of debts. Private companies are interested in making profit above everything else and in almost every case, privatization contracts favour the corporations, and when things go wrong it is government that has to pick up the pieces.

The corporate definition of water and sustainable development was neatly illustrated in a pamphlet distributed by the Lesotho Highlands Development Authority (LHDA), encouraging people to come to the Kingdom of Lesotho to witness the real sustainable development in the form of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project (LHWP). These claims stand in stark contrast to the experiences shared at the WaterDome by 20 delegates from Lesotho, who call themselves “the Survivors of Lesotho Dams” (SOLD). They came to Johannesburg to share the experiences on how hopeless and vulnerable that same project has left them. Many villagers in Lesotho have been forced to leave their villages to satisfy the thirsty people of Johannesburg. They were given some compensation, but no other alternative to being flooded. They changed overnight from farmers to beggars. Meanwhile 50% of the water piped to Soweto is lost through leaking pipes. Is this what the mountain villagers of Lesotho have sacrificed their way of life for?

These poor villagers not only had to struggle against the authorities in their own country. When they arrived at the Global People’s Forum at Nasrec, they were denied access because they could not afford the registration fee. It seems that their sacrifice back home which helped keep the taps of Nasrec flowing, was still not enough. Thanks to the comrades who pushed to make sure that the Survivors of the Lesotho Dams finally got into Nasrec.

The International Civil Society Water Caucus must be congratulated for the concerted effort they invested in ensuring water issues were highlighted both at the Global People’s Forum and at Sandton. The Sandton Plan of Implementation emphasized participatory democracy in decision-making and good governance as far as water resource management is concerned – despite the fact that it neglected to define water as a basic human right. Congratulations also to our government for being able to push through the sanitation target we have been advocating for – at least one remarkable milestone of the WSSD.

Thanks to the Global Indaba in collaboration the Anti-Privatization Forum, Landless People’s Movement, and other organizations for organizing the peaceful march from Alexandra to Sandton – one of the highlights for many visiting delegates. The march showed how close the rich and the poor live, and yet how far we are from narrowing that gap –one of the key issues that the Summit was meant to address.

As president Thabo Mbheki said in his closing speech, the South African government will keep an eye to the whole process from now on, and will liaise with the UN to ensure that the WSSD targets are being met. We as civil society need to accept this challenge too.