SESUPO RANTSIMAKO
PALAPYE: Botswana Congress Party (BCP) and Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD) Youth Leagues say they are extremely worried by delays in opposition cooperation talks.Addressing BCP conference over the weekend in Palapye BCP Youth League president Tumiso Chillyboy Rakgare expressed concerns over the opposition cooperation talks delays, insisting that should the opposition leadership fail to start the talks in earnest, the parties will not have enough time to prepare for the 2019 general elections.
Rakgare stated that should the leadership fail to start the negotiations well in time, cooperation talks could fail just like in 2011. He said what further worries him the most was that there was no update about the talks. “Though we appreciate opposition cooperation, our main concern is that the negotiations are yet to start despite being scheduled to start last month. So we are curious on the silence of the talks because 2019 is close. Our leadership has to rise to the occasion and start the cooperation talks because the more the delay the more we are going to fail to campaign for 2019 general elections,” said a concerned Rakgare, adding that the delay might end up jeopardizing the cooperation.
The BCP Youth League president cautioned that though they appreciate the cooperation talks, the BCP leadership should not compromise their party ideology. “During the negotiations our leadership has to bear in mind that BCP comes first,”he said.
For his part BMD Youth League Organizing Secretary Karabo Gomotsegang reiterated that delays in opposition cooperation talks could jeopardize their 2019 general elections preparations. “We are also concerned about this delay because they are long overdue. Despite this delay we believe that both opposition Youth Leagues should also play their role by sensitizing the electorates from the branch levels.”