Don’t be deceived by the war talk from Tsholetsa House, the BDP is actually in a state of panic.
Their long held belief that they had a monopoly to power is fast going out through the window.
A new party, with no name, as yet to be registered and with no clear indication of what it really stands for is sending shivers down the spine of a well known brand ÔÇô and it shows.
Behind the scenes the rooms are all filled with smoke ÔÇô all pandemonium, fear and confusion.
It’s a marvel to watch.
For the first time since they stole victory following a humiliating defeat at the Kanye Congress, the smart Alecks that make up the A-Team are once again looking like fools.
How could they not have seen it coming?
The split, which by the way is still working itself out, has brought about an uncertainty that is unknown in the well choreographed existence of the BDP.
By the time the work is done ÔÇô and it doesn’t seem like it will be long – humility will reign supreme across the ranks of the old juggernaut.
Defeat can be an excellent teacher.
Nothing will give more pleasure than see the big guns, hitherto invincible, lick their wounds.
My opinion with regards to where I stand in the ongoing BDP bloodletting is public.
The bloodletting should be encouraged if our weird form of democracy is to retain any meaning.
I know Dr. Raphael Dingalo at the Office of the President does not like it, but Botswana has been a de facto one party state since 1965 and the results are there for everyone to see.
The ruling party has become so insensitive and so arrogant that instead of running the country, they have turned themselves into cannibals, literally feeding off each other the way only wild beasts are known to do.
Which is why, for the party, the ongoing split is likely to prove a power for good.
The party needs to do some self-cleansing.
And that can only happen if there is soul searching allowed.
Thankfully, this bloodletting is not the first, and by the look of things it certainly will not be the last.
You know things have come to a pretty pass when not even the lure of power is strong enough to hold the party in power together.
Barata Phathi has had enough.
They have chosen the rough terrain of opposition politics over the luxuries of a proximity to power.
Of course, many of them have an axe to grind, but for now they have usurped the moral high ground, wrapping themselves with an impregnable costume of principle, integrity and honour.
We’re going through what promises to be the most interesting phase of our national politics since Ian Khama challenged Ponatshego Kedikilwe for the position of BDP Chairmanship.
BDP insiders, not least President Ian Khama, know so well that the party has never been more vulnerable.
Incumbency conspired with a badly organised BNF to give the ruling party a totally underserved majority in last year’s General Elections.
Otherwise defeat beckons should President Khama gamble on a snap election as some of his advisors have been demanding throughout the week.
No doubt defeat at the polls would do BDP a power for good.
The party has become not only tired but also unimaginative and irredeemably corrupt.
A few years in the wilderness will allow them a time to reflect and come back a better lot.
The slide into the abyss has no end in sight, unless President Khama learns to rule with magnanimity.
The President needs not look too far to see the source of his problems.
His close advisors are a part of his problems.
By any account Barata Phathi demands are recklessly wild, but they reflect a long simmering resentment of a generally wounded membership who feel sidelined by the smart Alecks that populate Khama’s inner circle.
Forget about the few personalities at the forefront of the rebellion, the schism is a symptom of a much deeper divide.
The surest way to heal the BDP is to be inclusive, to fight corruption, to empower and respect our national institutions and go back to what the BDP used to stand for.
Khama’s style of leadership, just like his arrival into politics years ago, has hurt a lot of people.
Healing the wounds was never going to be easy, he is trying his best but hangers-on are not helping the situation.
They know so well that they are inside the tent because too many people are outside of it.
They do not want to share Khama with anyone else.
For them the fewer the merrier.
Factionalism has spurred too many a career inside the BDP, catapulting people to key positions inside Government. These are the same people who do not want Khama to make peace with Barata Phathi.
They are the same people some of whom are still asking themselves just how it has been that they made it into their positions, including inside cabinet.
It is in many people’s interests that Barata Phathi should leave, or at the very least that factions should continue inside the BDP.
While Sir Ketumile Masire means well there just are too many reasons why his efforts at a negotiated settlement are bound to fail ÔÇô decimally!
