Editor,
The opposition parties and those who rallied behind their idea of forming a so-called umbrella party to wrestle power from the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) had to receive a bitter Christmas present when the talks of the project officially collapsed because of disagreements over sharing of constituencies.
Fingers are already pointing at the leaders of the three opposition parties, Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD), Botswana National Front (BNF) and Botswana Congress Party (BCP) for failing those who are hungry for change in government.
This is because salvos have been evident between the three parties while the poor ‘Francistown guys’ the Botswana Peoples Party (BPP) remain in a lurch and confused of what really is happening.
If one takes a close look at the views of the three young leaders, it will be realised that the problem is more between the BCP and the BMD. The BCP through, among others, its leader, Dumelang Saleshando, seems to believe that including the BMD in the first place in the talks was a mistake. The BMD is seen as having slight patches of the BDP.
All of a sudden to Saleshando, the BMD is an infant which has not been tried and tested but demands more than it can carry. The ‘big brother’ attitude that was previously blamed on the BNF is now boiling within the BCP. It is loud and clear, even when Saleshando writes, one can tell that he is someone consumed and overtaken by emotions and if things were to go according to him, his party could be working maybe with the BNF in a PACT model. Frankly speaking, for Saleshando the ‘umbrella’ is like the Kwaito music; it’s dead for ever. Pride is suddenly overpowering the young politician.
The problem is that Saleshando and his party are afraid of their shadows. They feel that their growth is threatened. They have the dilemma to work with other parties and, on the other hand, use the opportunity to lift their party. It can be sensibly argued, the constituency that Saleshando currently holds is that of the BDP but some of them sabotaged their party and voted for him because they saw a lot of potential in him at the time.
He is not only one of the few young intellectuals in the national assembly but one of the best things that have ever happened to our politics that is why we also voted for him at the University of Botswana. So an argument by Saleshando to claim that certain constituencies are theirs and they should be given to them on that basis does not hold water. Lobatse can be argued to be that of the BNF but it went to an independent Member of Parliament (MP) who later found a political home at the BMD.
The other issue to shun primaries is also misguided. We have to accept that democracy has always had its own disadvantages even though it widely preferred across the world. The fact is the ‘umbrella’ wasted time on talking than presenting the project to the people that they are claiming to make it for them. The primaries are not a smooth path but that’s the most viable way of involving the people. If the leaders are going to seal everything and leave out the people, then what is the use of opposing the BDP? The same people who attacked the BDP about its compromise are practising double standards and doing the same thing? Guys, if you don’t want to provide people with an alternative to the BDP just tell them so that they can just give up and accept that the BDP is a government life party.
