It is now official.
The negotiations by the motley crew of opposition political parties which have been dragging on in one form or other for close to two years now have come to an unceremonious collapse.
Shortly after the project started, some of us predicted the collapse and we were shouted down as prophets of doom who were collaborating with the ruling party to undermine opposition progress.
But the truth is that there was never going to be any progress unless there was a change of mindset among the chief players involved.
There was never going to be headway in the midst of such garish bloodletting, undisguised back stabbing, bad faith, distrust and general animosity among those involved.
There was never going to be consensus and progress when it was so obvious from the beginning that parties were not prepared to show tolerance to one another.
From day one, it was clear that opposition parties had grudgingly accepted to come to the table not because of any innate recognition that they needed one another, but because they were giving in to what was a pressure and backlash from the population that was fed up with a lack of immaturity on the part of the parties themselves.
The absence of attitudinal change, particularly the big brother disposition by the main player, the Botswana National Front, should be singled out.
The position occupied by the BNF in Botswana’s political landscape is very important.
Which is why the party should be very cautious and exemplary in whatever it does.
The party has sadly not lived up to meet public expectations of what is a serious political party with real pretensions and dreams of becoming an alternative government.
What the party’s functionaries should appreciate is that it is not a given that they shall forever remain an important player in Botswana’s politics.
That level of importance is a result of hard work and organizational investments implemented over the years.
Unfortunately, there has in the recent years, been a slip back and loss of ground by the BNF, mainly a result of lack of discipline and in some instances just sheer arrogance.
It will not be easy to regain the lost ground.
BNF should remember that once upon a time there was a very strong and widely popular entity called the Botswana Peoples Party.
Not only has such a party been reduced to a shadow of its past, it has also lost relevance, relegated and forced to recoil into a small regional sub-cultural institution with its remnants not seen anywhere beyond Francistown and the surrounding environs.
BNF is well on its way to becoming just that. Only for the BNF the process could be faster, with huge psychological trauma.
There is no reason why BNF should be treated with kid gloves after their obtrusive behaviour which has led to the collapse of what is intrinsically a national project.
We can only hope that going forward the ordinary members of the BNF will emerge wiser from the whole fracas, and next time they are expected to elect leadership at their congress they will be able to vote in serious individuals who place the interests of the nation ahead of personal interests.
Right now the BNF is controlled by a small filibustering crowd that is prepared to sacrifice national interests on the alter of personal aggrandizement and selfish contentment.
Such people should not be allowed to use the country in their eccentric and wild academic experiments.
Opposition parties should not be allowed to turn this country into a gangland.
Unfortunately, they have been allowed that space, hence the collapse of the opposition talks.
Turning now to the smaller and less important opposition parties, like the BCP, BAM, and BPP, we want to advise them to read the mood of the people and stay true to the course of the project of opposition cooperation even if it means going it alone without the much needed presence of the Big Brother.
It will be a tough and arduous journey, fraught with pit holes, risks and temptations to pull out.
But they should stay the course for, in the end, it will be a rewarding exercise.
There is also a real likelihood that, by the time dust settles, sense will prevail on the Big Brother as to be able to rejoin the fray.
There is still no alternative to opposition unity. May, in the end, sense prevail.
