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He said this is the position of the party. It is understood that some people in the BNF central committee are expected to demand an explanation from him. Some leaders in the party including the president of the party Otsweletse Moupo have declared his utterances inconsistent with the party position on opposition cooperation and action is likely to be taken against him. Moupo said despite Kanjabanga's utterances, the opposition talks are on the right track. "The process is ongoing and next Sunday, there will be a continuation of the negotiations in Gaborone. Recently, we met with the convenor of the talks to draw up the agenda. We were raising issues for the agenda and consolidating them," said Moupo. He said that Kanjabanga's position is news to him and hence he is constrained to comment on it for now. He said he prefers an in-house intervention in the matter and appealed to BNF members not to do or say anything that could undermine the talks. He added that he does not tolerate members who make personal 'outbursts' on crucial issues without considering the impact. The comments by Kanjabanga have drawn a rejoinder from Bernard Balikani, the leader of one of the partners in the opposition talks, Botswana Peoples' Party (BPP). The BPP president said Kanjabanga's message is not proper because it is inconsistent with the position of the BNF that he knows from the negotiating table. "One can only hope that the position that is being articulated by the youth league is not that of the main party," Balikani told Mmegi yesterday. He said if the position articulated by Kanjabanga is that of the party, then it will be unfortunate for the negotiations. He said politicians should stop confusing people on cooperation. For now, Balikani said that they would ignore Kanjabanga's position unless the BNF negotiating team backs him. He said if the BNF were not committed to the talks, they would have stated it at the last meeting of cooperating partners. "Some of these utterances are pure signs of cracks in the process especially that an organ of a negotiating partner can come up with a resolution that is inconsistent with the general position of an organisation like the BNF." When contacted for comment yesterday, the outspoken Kanjabanga reiterated that what he said over the weekend is not inconsistent with the position of the party. "The BNF is talking about a political relationship, but we have moved further to state the form of a relationship that we are comfortable with as we know it will work," explained Kanjabanga. He repeated that other forms of cooperation would make the BNF disappear from other areas making it a regional party. "We can't support any form of political arrangement that is destined to make us disappear. If there is any honesty, then other political parties should work under the BNF as it is the leading opposition party." Kanjabanga explained that there is concern about the survival of the BNF. "We are always asking ourselves as to whether we are going to remain intact or what? He said alliances are temporary arrangements and will collapse before the intended results can even be realised. BCP national chairperson Batisani Maswibilili declined to comment. Maswibilili leads the party's negotiation team in the talks. "This is a BNF issue and I would prefer to leave it to them so that they could deal with it the way they want to," he said.
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