Meanwhile, Iman has already left the diamond giant or De Beers LV, the retail namesake for the South Africa’s group at the height of the removal of the San from their ancestral land in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve.
Kwelagobe explained that Botswana, which is the largest producer of rough diamonds, should be accorded the chance to promote the precious stones because there will be relevance.
De Beers has a joint 50/50 percent partnership with the government of Botswana to exploit diamond resources in the country. “We hear that we produce 30 percent of the world’s diamonds, we can use that to promote De Beers”, she suggested.
She asked why the diamond giant used Iman and not her, but the explanation given by De Beers that time was that the supermodel was more popular than she was.
“I heard Iman was more famous than me, but I think I can speak well,” she added. Although, she agrees that there has been hype about blood diamonds in the region, she promises that if given the opportunity, she would glorify and differentiate Botswana diamonds from conflict diamonds.
“Remember 30 percent of the diamonds come from Botswana and I can tell the world that. Botswana diamonds are for development, they are not blood diamonds,” she explained. Mpule believes she can make it only if she has support from people at home. The support, she says should come from the media and that coverage should be well thought out because compatriots are promoting the country abroad.
She added that the media is important because it reaches audience outside the world in the advent of the Internet.
