A decision by the Botswana government and diamond giant De Beers to keep their sales agreement secretive dominated a presidential debate aired live on the national television late Wednesday.
Three of the four prospective candidates vying for the presidential seat raised a concern over the secrecy surrounding negotiations between the government and De Beers.
The presidential race is between President Mokgweetsi Masisi of the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP), Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) leader Duma Boko, Alliance for Progressives (AP) leader Ndaba Gaolathe and Biggie Butale representing Botswana Patriotic Front (BPF).
Botswana and De Beers have a 50/50 joint venture called Debswana through a mining company located in Botswana, which is the world’s leading producer of diamonds by value.
Gaolathe said the AP was concerned by the secrecy surrounding the sales agreement between Botswana and De Beers.
“No one knows about it except a few, even Parliament does not know anything about it. That is the problem with the De Beers and the Botswana government sales contract,” he said.
Butale observed that the “marriage” between Botswana and De Beers was a hate and love relationship.
“Some would wish to see De Beers being brought down on its knees but this can have devastating impact on our economy. De Beers has been exploiting Batswana,” he said.
The BPF leader wondered why Debswana’s purchasing office is based in South Africa’s Johannesburg, a development that only benefitted businesses in the neighbouring country.
Boko said the UDC was uncomfortable with the secrecy surrounding the contract between Botswana and De Beers.
“De Beers must be made to understand that we need a large share in our diamonds. A number of stakeholders even ordinary citizens must know what the negotiations entail not only leaders,” he said.
However, Masisi, who had initially snubbed a presidential debate organised by NGOs, defenced the deal but said he was not ready to give more specific details on the contract between De Beers and the Botswana government as negotiations for a new contract were still underway.
The current 10-year diamond sales and mining agreement was signed in September 2011 and is expected to come to an end in 2021.
Masisi hailed the current sales agreement saying under the deal, “Botswana succeeded in having De Beers relocate its diamond sales and distribution function from London to Gaborone.”
He said there is still an economic opportunity for Batswana to benefit through diamond beneficiation.
KO/jn/APA