Ahem!

The TerraViva distribution system has been impressive. So much so that the paper has been seen in some secretive places and is widely sought after where civil society groups gather. But at Ubuntu and Sandton Square the managers say they don’t care that TerraViva is one of the accredited United Nations newspapers. As if those were not public spaces where one would expect at least the same freedom allowed by the United Nations at the Convention Centre, where security is very tight.

Overheard at the Sandton Convention Centre: Diplomats and delegates from an unnamed European country waxing lyrical about The Calabash - an up-market topless bar north of Johannesburg. And, no, we cannot provide directions.

A police horse was struck by a delegate's car. It sustained injuries to both flanks and its chest. It's in a stable condition. The car belonged to an NGO.

Several journalists have complained how they were taken for rides by cabbies in Johannesburg. And the rides have been expensive. The agreed fare at the beginning of journey is not the same fare demanded at the end of the trip. Unbeknown to the rider, the driver switches an obviously rigged meter. So when you arrive at your destination, you see a meter reading far in excess of what was agreed upon. These cabbies should feel lucky they are not living in Malaysia. A news report from Kuala Lumpur yesterday said that the Malaysian tourism minister has said that taxi drivers who cheat tourists in his country should be shot.

We know the host country has to make up for the hundreds of millions of Rands it has spent on the conference. But local businesses are going crazy. Take the Sandton Convention Centre where prices are double the usual. Telephone charges have shot up from 49c a unit to 80c; water is flowing at R 10 a bottle while locals pay R 5, and chicken and chips which will cost you R 20 at shops across the way are being sold at R 45 a plate. Sies! - (a South Africanism meaning what a stinker).

The United States, which has customarily dismissed most U.N. conferences as “talking shops”, is also keeping count of the endless flow of words at WSSD. At a press briefing yesterday, one of the American delegates said the WSSD’s 71-page draft plan of action consists of over 30,000 words. “What we need is more concrete action and less words,” she told reporters. But her country, unfortunately, is not putting its money where its mouth is.