Africa-Press – Botswana. The president of Botswana, Mokgeetsiw Masisi, threatened to cut ties with the diamond company De Beers if the agreement to explore the diamond mines, which expires this year, does not increase the country’s profits.
“If we don’t reach a favorable situation for both parties, everyone will have to pack their bags and leave,” said the head of state at a rally to launch his presidential re-election in 2024 in his hometown of Moshupa, 65 kilometers from the capital, Gaborone.
According to the financial information agency Bloomberg, the 2011 agreement provides that Debswana, the company owned in equal parts by the Government and De Beers, will operate until 2021, but the partnership was extended until June 30 of this year due to the pandemic. .
Under this agreement, De Beers sells 90% of the diamonds, while Botswana auctions 10%, through the Okavango Diamond Company, but in 2020 the Government’s percentage has been increased to 25%.
“Now, we find out how the diamond market works and we find that we are receiving much less than we should”, said Masisi in the speech to supporters, in which he called for the support of the whole country and said that the country faced “the Goliath of diamonds”. .
“We discovered that diamonds are very profitable and that the 2011 agreement was not beneficial for us, we are increasing the bet because we want a bigger share of our diamonds, it cannot be ‘business as usual'”, stressed the leader of the largest diamond producer in sub-Saharan Africa.
Botswana’s economy is expected to have grown by 6.7% last year and forecasts from the Ministry of Finance point to a slowdown to around 5% this and next year.
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