International Finance
Economy

Diamonds make Botswana shine

However, these precious stones happen to have a darker side Miriam Mannak March 22, 2016: Almost 50 years have passed since De Beers stumbled onto massive diamond reserves in Botswana. It took the company a good couple of years to get the Orapa mine, 400km from the country’s capital of Gaborone, ready for extraction of the first stones, which kicked off in 1971. Since then,...

However, these precious stones happen to have a darker side

Miriam Mannak

March 22, 2016: Almost 50 years have passed since De Beers stumbled onto massive diamond reserves in Botswana. It took the company a good couple of years to get the Orapa mine, 400km from the country’s capital of Gaborone, ready for extraction of the first stones, which kicked off in 1971. Since then, diamonds have played a key role in Botswana’s economy.

More discoveries followed, heralding a brand new chapter for Botswana, which in 1967 – the year of De Beers’s first diamond finding – was known as one of the world’s poorest nations. The income per capita soon shot up, from $80 per year in the mid-1960s to $435 in 1976. Trade Economics figures furthermore show how Botswana’s national GDP went up from $0.05 billion in 1967 to $14.79 billion last year. More importantly, the average real economic growth has been set at 4.6% per year, every year, between 1995 and 2011. Last but not least, Botswana’s Gross Domestic Product per capita currently stands at $7,100, which is significantly higher than neighbouring South Africa ($6,600).

One of the major diamond finds in Botswana in the last three decades revolves around the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR). Situated in the heart of the country, this arid wilderness encompasses over 52.000m2 of plains, pans, camel thorns, and stretches of savannah-like vegetation. It is roughly the size of Switzerland. The reserve, which was founded in the 1960s, harbours not only an abundance of wildlife, including lions, cheetahs and elephants, but also some of the richest diamond fields in the world. The value of the diamond deposits at one of the mines, the Orapa open cast mine, which started producing in September last year, has been estimated at $5 billion. This means good news for the economy, and for exports. Diamonds, both rough and polished stone, are an important source of income, as they account for some 85% of Botswana’s total exports.

However, the sparkly wealth hidden below the earth’s surface has a dark side too: the CKGR discoveries, for instance, have gone hand in hand with the forced relocation of the Kalahari’s indigenous inhabitants. Known as the Bushmen, these traditional hunters have roamed the region, which is now known as the CKGR, for 20,000 years, possibly longer, living off the land and in harmony with wildlife and the elements. As a matter of fact, the reserve was even established for the purpose of conserving and preserving the Bushmen culture and way of life.

The tide changed in 1997, when over 1,700 Bushmen were moved off the reserve. Two more rounds followed, in 2002 and 2005. According to the government, these measures were necessary to stop Botswana’s indigenous people from disrupting the park’s wildlife.

Nonsense, says activist Jumanda Gakelebone, born and bred in the CKGR. He was forced to leave his ancestral land in 2002, together with the bulk of his family, “The resettlement of my people was directly linked to the diamonds,” he explains. “They don’t want us to lay claim to the wealth.”

Those who have been thrown out of the CKGR are struggling, as life in the various relocation settlements, such as New Xade and Dekar, is very difficult. “There is a lot of poverty, alcoholism, unemployment and most people rely on government handouts,” Gakelebone says. “We are marginalised and oppressed, and have no land rights. Over the past years, we have been forced to abandon our traditional way of life, that whilst we are the country’s indigenous people.”

Gakelebone, who secured New Xade seat in the local Gantsi District council, adds that the few hundred Bushmen who are still residing in the reserve – thanks to various successful court cases against the government – don’t have it easy either. “As a result of the hunting ban they can’t survive. People in the reserve are starving and suffering,” he says, explaining that without being able to hunt one can’t possibly survive in the CKGR, technically a semi-dessert where temperature easily surpass the 45 degree-mark. “The police and special forces are monitoring them to prevent them from hunting. Every day, they are being harassed. The Bushmen are afraid of what might happen if they do kill an animal. I know three people who were tortured to death after shooting a Gemsbok for food.”

A recent report by Survival International, an organisation which fights for the rights of indigenous and tribal people worldwide, amplifies Gakelebone’s statements. ‘They have killed me: the persecution of Botswana’s Bushmen 1992-2014’ has revealed some 200 cases of assault, arrests, abuse and torture allegedly committed by government officials. “The government crackdown on the Kalahari Bushmen continues, and has possibly worsened,” says the organisation’s Rachel Stenham. “The hunting ban is the most recent development. We saw plans for this being ramped up last year, when paramilitary police – which is known as the special support group – started to go into the CKGR in large numbers, raided their huts for animal skins, and threatened them with violence and expulsion if they’re caught killing animals.”

Despite the controversy, diamond extraction in the CKGR is going full steam ahead. Last September, the first underground diamond mine in the country opened its doors in the southeastern part of the reserve. Operated by UK company Gem Diamonds Limited, the deposits of the Ghaghoo mine are estimated at 20 million carats.

Apart from mining the diamonds, Botswana has embarked on value-add activities, including polishing. That is makes Botswana a strong economic player in Africa, and an even more important diamond country, says Francois Stofberg, economist at the South African financial services firm The Efficient Group. ”Botswana is one of the few countries in Africa, which has diversified its diamond sector,” he says. “They did so in 2009, during the financial crisis. As a result, the country bounced back quicker than others. When the world’s economy has fully recovered and the demand for diamonds normalises, I suspect Botswana will do very well because it will benefit from mining and value-add activities.”

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