Is BCP jinxed?
Botswana Congress Party (BCP) finds itself in a precarious position after its only hope of going to the national polls in an honest working relationship with other political parties was doomed when the Alliance for Progressives (AP) dumped them.
The end of a promising relation between the duo together with Botswana Labour Party (BLP) hit rock bottom last week when AP announced that it has withdrawn from the negotiation table and the decision which was taken by the party’s central committee is not irreversible.
In the wake of the collapse of the talks, BCP and AP have been trading unsavoury words unknown to their relationship vocabulary. The duo has come out to accuse each other of negotiating in bad faith.
Now with the relationship of like-minded opposition parties which all along at the start of the talks boasted of democracy, governance, honesty and transparency having proven otherwise, the BCP might find itself isolated.
This could be the repeat of 2014 following the collapse of the Umbrella 1 negotiations which saw the BCP pulling out of the talks and going solo into the general election.
Although it had much confidence during the 2014 general election, the BCP came out of the polls most bruised and would later on get into talks with other contracting partners in the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC). It would later be admitted into the UDC in 2017.
The BCP is currently safe since the BLP has no other party to pull together to the 2024 general election. The party’s relation with UDC has broken down irreparably since the internal UDC squabble post 2019 general elections.
The relationship reached boiling point when BCP President and Secretary General Dumelang Saleshando and Goretetse Kekgonegile were suspended from the UDC pending a disciplinary hearing following their failure to publicly apologise for allegedly soiling the name of the UDC and its leadership.
Things were made worse when the BCP indicated that it will be going alone into negotiations with other political parties and not as UDC bloc when talks got underway with the AP.
The talks would later be put on hold but the BCP and AP forged ahead with the talks that lasted until last week when AP announced its official exit. The UDC under the direction of its leader called for the halting of the negotiations which fell on deaf ears.
The BCP has indicated that it has long left the UDC which it accuses of lack of inner party democracy and good governance. BCP President has revealed recently that the BCP is once again ready to go solo in the next year general election. The party might have a stiff competition within the opposition space if the negotiations between the UDC and AP bear fruits.
The AP has been lured by UDC leader Advocate Duma Boko who revealed that the AP if it returns to the UDC it would be given a better offer than what it got at its table with BCP and BLP.
The UDC is currently made up of Botswana National Front (BNF) Botswana Patriotic Front (BPF) and Botswana People’s Party (BPP). The BPF Extra-Ordinary Congress held in Gaborone this past weekend ratified the decision of its National Executive Committee (NEC) for the party to join the UDC.
In its effort to prepare for any eventualities, the BCP is said to be working on strategies on how to approach the 2024 elections.
According to sources, BCP is ready to go all out to defend its name and its leaders contrary to what it did during the 2014 elections. This is also happening at the time when more councillors are dumping the party across the country.
The BCP has proven that it is ready for no-blows-barred against opponents when it released a scathing press statement against the AP barely a day before the AP held a press conference to announce its exit from the talks.
While the AP accused the BCP of infiltration with the aim of destroying them and negotiating in bad faith, the BCP is accused of having too much appetite for more than they can chew.
According to the BCP, the AP acted as if it was entitled to constituencies which objective criteria - criterion intended to accommodate special considerations such as equity - suggested BCP should have first claim on, including all the seven deadlocked constituencies.
The BCP stated that it is not surprised by reports that the AP leadership intends to take AP to UDC. It is apparent that the leaders of AP have cut deals for themselves, BCP Information and Publicity Secretary Prof Mpho Pheko, said.
It is yet to be seen if there would be any cooling of heads and possible reconciliation within the opposition UDC, BCP and AP ahead of next year’s elections.