Thursday's Earth Summit Roundup
What if they gave a summit and nobody came? Only 60 delegates managed to show up for the kickoff of the World Forum, which is the Non Governmental Organization (NGO) warm up for the big enchilada next week.

The smattering of delegates that did arrive in the giant conference hall with its 8 000 seats on Wednesday were upset because they'd been twiddling their thumbs for two days.

Delays and poor organisation were criticised especially and the groups held a private protest meeting in one of the smaller venues.

At this meeting, they demanded answers from the organisers about the problems and possible solutions. Some delegates were under the impression that the meetings had been scheduled to start on Monday and "have been sitting in the sun, doing nothing for two days".

Sister Bernice, a Catholic nun who does mission work in Kenya, was upset. "The church pays for our tickets and accommodation and now we are wasting their money."

The opening ceremony was later moved to a smaller auditorium without delegates being informed. Pamphlets were stuck to the tar roads at Nasrec to show people the way.

Nice touch!

The 09:00 meeting was to have started in the new venue at 10:00. Half an hour later, however, Lucas Mufumadi, chairperson of the South African coalition of NGOs (Sangoco), announced that the meeting would start onlt at 11:00. At that stage, only about 30 people were present in the auditorium.

This number later grew to about 60. The speakers agreed there was a real danger that this summit and the heads-of-state one in Sandton would not provide solutions to the problems in developing countries.

A rocket scientist convention!

Outside the building, about 100 volunteers were sitting in the sun or playing soccer, while they were waiting to be accredited.

The "ground-breaking decisions" expected at this carnival were apparently in short supply.

Of course, the missing delegates might have wandered off after reading the special summit adverts in the Johannesburg Star:

The back page of The Star's Classified section was taken up with ads offering services ranging from a 23-year-old gay white male (slim, slender, blue eyes, 9 1/2'') to a dungeon and mistress (discreet, upmarket).

Headlined "Summit Adult Entertainment", some of the ads, obviously aimed at delegates to the upcoming World Summit on Sustainable Development, quote in foreign currencies.