What happened to Ntuane in Zambia?

GABRIEL KANJABANGA | Wednesday November 30, 2011 00:00

 

His hostility towards President Ian Khama had stopped. He made statements like there is only one president. He spoke about reconciliation. He said the public service unions' strike had polarised the country.

That there is need for reconciliation between the unions, government, the President and the nation at large. That the President must reinstate the dismissed workers and the workers must apologise. As to why workers should apologise for striking I do not know.

I wonder if the strike had been so antagonistic to warrant talk of reconciliation.

Can a labour dispute between workers and the government be considered too conflictual to call for reconciliation?

What form should this reconciliation take? If Khama was to reinstate dismissed workers, would that be a gesture of reconciliation? What would Khama's government get in return from the workers? How about the workers, other than reinstatement of the dismissed ones, what will those that were not dismissed get in return, will they get their 16 percent salary increment or will the President invite them for tea?

Has there really been an actional conflict that calls for talk of national reconciliation? Is this call for reconciliation not directed to the Botswana Democratic Party and Botswana Movement for Democracy members? I think this reconciliation is meant for the BDP and BMD members.

After Ntuane made these statements about reconciliation, the BDP issued a statement in a weekend newspaper, indicating that the party's chairman, Daniel Kwelagobe had been given the authority to recruit BMD members including its leaders. This is interestingly coincidental.

Reconciliation and recruitment? It then can only be reconciling the BDP and the BMD not anything else.

Even events that followed after talk of reconciliation and recruitment show that the two parties are getting together as one. In fact the BMD is rejoining the BDP. Some of us are not surprised though. There are two minor, but very important political events that recently took place.

The tea and the wedding. We all know that after public comments over reconciliation, Ntuane went to have a two-hour tea session with Khama. It was just the two of them. Whatever they discussed we do not know. What is however clear is that after the long tea session, Ntuane persuaded and convinced the opposition parliamentary caucus not to walk out on Khama as he enters Parliament during the recent State of the Nation Address.

He reasoned that a walk out would embarrass him and was not necessary as things were now better and the President was more accommodative of opposition.

His response to Khama's State of the Nation Address was more mellow and uncharacteristically not condemnative of Khama.

He albeit without authority from the workers offered apology to Khama allegedly on behalf of the workers for the strike. During the Matlho- a - Phage TV programme, he was at pains and fidgety to answer a simple question whether he was going back to the BDP.

With all these incidents it is no wonder that some opposition youth leagues demanded that he step down as the Leader of Opposition in Parliament.  I do agree with them. I have never really found comfort in having a longtime BDP functionary who decamped from BDP very recently to form a party to become the Leader of Opposition.

For me it is Khama as head of the BDP government and Botsalo Ntuane as deputy leader of the small BDP (BMD) being the Leader of Opposition. We cannot have BDP functionaries leading us both in government and opposition.

This is wrong. The Botswana National Front must take the leadership of opposition.

They must ask the Botswana Congress Party to support them take over the position of the Leader of Opposition, more so that there is strong probabilities and possibilities that the BNF and BCP may cooperate under the pact.