THE CONVERNOR'S COLUMN

The WSSD is upon us and accordingly, different sectors of society have been involved with its preparatory work. In Sandton, the intergovernmental session will have to resolve outstanding issues or brackets in the "Chairman's text" to reach global consensus on the path to eradicate poverty.

On the other hand, civil society is convened at the Global People's Forum in Nasrec to formulate its own positions and lobby governments on a political declaration and thematic issues to be included in the Programme of Action.

The outcome will guide the sustainable development agenda for the next ten years. This is where the Community Constituency's sectors are all involved as major groups to ensure that this outcome is possible. Similarly, local government and Business have convened to define their niche and role in sustainable development.

Is consensus possible?

There are critical questions that seem to be an obstacle in arriving at global consensus and the apparent one is the lack of synergy of all these separate activities. There seems to be no relationship or influence to each other and yet the issues and concerns addressed are the same.

Every component of this process emphasizes 'independence' to the extent that it compromises partnership as if singularly, we stand better chance to implement a path leading to sustainable development without each other.

It is for this reason that some of us feel vindicated when we called for this process to be coordinated, negotiated and consensus built in Nedlac as a structure with an impeccable record of success in driving social dialogue in South Africa.

Nedlac has all the space and flexibility for constituencies' participation to develop a strategy on any key socio-economic and environmental challenges facing our country. This constitutes a lost opportunity on the part of South Africa to provide decisive leadership at critical periods to guide the process. I hope we have learned.

Where to from here?

The success of the Summit will be measured by a binding political declaration that signifies political will that can be translated into concrete outcomes, clear targets and partnership.

The Johannesburg Summit should lead us into ten years of action to eradicate poverty and inequalities but the biggest challenge will be how to synergise these separate activities around the WSSD to get a coordinated intervention.

Time will tell, but for us Nedlac has the potential to deliver a National Sustainable Development Strategy for the next ten years to produce a respectable balance sheet in the next Summit.