How to break free from De Beers

last updated 8 January 2015

Botswana

Todd Majaye

Botswana should find a way to wean itself off De Beers, said Todd Majaye in Gaborone’s Mmegi. For decades, the De Beers Company has exploited our diamond mines, and the country has seen very little benefit. This is not to accuse De Beers “of a deliberate unfair practice.” But the South African company certainly has done little to help “the nations it derives its livelihood from.” We have entire “closed” towns that are essentially governed by De Beers. Our country’s native people, the Batswana, didn’t even learn any skills until quite recently. Batswana were given only hard physical labor, because the company trained foreigners to sort and value the diamonds. That’s why a new De Beers proposal to create a joint-venture company with the Botswana government needs to be evaluated with some real skepticism. Let’s get the benefits to our country spelled out clearly, in an enforceable contract. Let’s make sure Batswana are hired and trained. Most important, let’s “consider working with other players in the diamond industry—to reduce dependence on De Beers.”