By Bert Wilkinson

Five thousand people turned up at the main convention hall yesterday to hear former president Nelson Mandela speak at the opening ceremony of the NGO Forum, but many left disappointed when he pulled a no-show.

Mandela’s absence was blamed on an administrative error in his office.
Gordon Bispham, chairperson of the Barbados-based Caribbean Policy Development Centre and Beki Ntshali Ntshali, head of the WSSD Managing Committee, both apologised to delegates, saying Mandela aides were apparently late in communicating with the former president. Ntshali

A loud groan of disappointment greeted Bispham’s announcement, but it should have come as no surprise to the audience. A look at the level of security available at the head table and at the entrances to the main auditorium would have alerted the discerning delegate to the fact that no one of the stature of Mandela had been expected.

Delegates, led by local NGO groups, were in a festive mood dancing, singing and waving flags and face rags in front of the main stage where Mandela would have sat had he made an appearance. They quickly fell silent once the announcement was made.

“There is no doubt that many of the delegates came to see and hear Mandela,” said Bispham, vowing that all efforts would be made to have the former president speak before the conference ends next week.

Once the opening ceremony got underway, however, the hall, filled with representatives from some of the 12,000 NGOs registered for the conference, resonated with the now familiar calls to change the world economic, political and social order.

Calling for NGOs to step up their lobbying campaign to effect change, Bispham urged delegates to pay particular attention to issues of human security, problems associated with globalisation, governance and health among other key areas.

“We must deal with these issues,” he said, pleading with delegates “not to allow this summit to be a failure”.

“We will not divert from our path to sustainable development. We will work with those governments that we can. Those that we can’t we will continue to lobby and those that we can’t lobby, where necessary will be replaced.”

Conference delegates took to the floor once the opening ceremony was over, complaining about a host of things including insufficient passes for NGOs to meet with governments, the plight of the Palestinians and the U.S. embargo against Cuba.