The new diamond discovery issue has now pit the Ministries of Local Government, Lands and Housing, and Minerals, Energy and Water Resources against one another, accusing each other of poor consultation.

The minister responsible for minerals, Ponatshego Kedikilwe, was requested this week by his counter-part at the Ministry of Lands and Housing, Nonofo Molefhi, to explain how Petra Diamonds came to be allocated exploration rights without Lands and Housing Ministry knowing.

The Permanent Secretary in Kedikilwe's Ministry, Gabaake Gabaake, on Friday confirmed that the Minister of Lands and Housing has made an enquiry about the Jwaneng matter.

"The Minister asked me about the matter today. He said Molefhi contacted him. We are investigating how the problem came about and how this matter can best be resolved as quickly as possible because the contractor is on site," the permanent secretary said.

The PS indicated that he would like developments to give way to mining. "It will be undesirable for us to build a town on top of a kimberlite pipe really, but we are still looking into the matter," said the PS.

Jwaneng officials are worried that the new diamond mine is not only going to disrupt the P65mn project going on at the site but its fence will also extend into some parts of the town centre where the diamond belt runs.

A number of developments in the town like the Choppies mall, Spar mall and the town council are said to have been built on top of the diamond belt as well.

However the town council is furious after kick starting the P65m development project at the Unit 8 service land last year. Construction continues at the site where roads, storm water drainage, water pipes and electricity connections are currently on going.

The Jwaneng Town Council last year appointed NMA consulting engineers, Tswelelo Electrical Consulting Engineers, CSC & EC-Landmark Projects joint venture civil contractors to start servicing the land.

The Botswana Housing Corporation is also ready to start building houses there to solve acute shortage of accommodation in that town.

The town mayor, Christopher Ramolemane, on Friday said, "We don't know what is happening at all. This is an issue of three ministries - local government, minerals, and lands - maybe they can better explain to you what is going on," said the visibly frustrated mayor in an interview at his house in Jwaneng.

"There used to be drillings by De Beers many years ago, but Debswana said they were not interested in mining the deposits there. Now we decided to continue and service the land, only to hear recently that there is a company that has made new discovery there and they are keen to mine the diamonds. It's confusing because the news comes at a time when developments are going on," Ramolemane said.

The mayor says he fails to understand how the Jwaneng Town Council were allocated funds to service the unit when authorities knew that they had awarded the same land to a company to explore for diamonds.

 "This is not our fault at all. There is no way we can develop the land without the Ministry of Lands knowing, someone should have advised us to stop. As we speak the Botswana Housing Corporation is just waiting for the land to be serviced for them to start building houses," Ramolemane said.

Jwaneng Town Clerk, Loeto Dilampi, was equally defiant: "What I can confirm to you is that the project is ongoing and we haven't received instructions to put it on hold or abandon it. If there are any changes they will have to be decided upon by all stakeholders; Jwaneng Town Council, Ministry of Local Government, and the Ministry of Minerals, Energy and Water affairs. At the moment we are moving ahead with the Unit 8 infrastructure project," he said Friday night.

Pelothomogi Ntebang, councillor for Raphalane ward, which includes Unit 8 said: "The information we got is that there are diamonds there, and it is in huge quantity. But we are continuing to service the land. What we don't know is whether the council will be compensated. The company started drilling there last year, at the same time we started servicing the land".

Ntebang ironically claims that he asked a question at a full council meeting on January 8, this year relating to the diamond discovery at Unit 8. "The mayor told the full council meeting that they had a meeting in Gaborone about the matter and they are still awaiting advice from other authorities concerning the future of Unit 8," Ntebang said.

The councillor, also a miner with Debswana says he has always been skeptical about building a town on top of a kimberlite tunnel. "When the plan for the land was presented to us at a full council, it was clearly shown that there is a kimberlite pipe in the area, and I think we should have shifted developments to areas like Unit 9, 10, and 11, which don't have a kimberlite pipe running through them. There was nothing that compelled us to go for Unit 8. There is bad planning in this town. Almost the entire town is built on a kimberlite pipe, which is sad really," the councillor told the Monitor.

Area MP, Mephato Reatile, blamed the Jwaneng confusion on lack of consultation. "I am also in the dark. I got to hear about the diamonds discovery from one of the guys working for the exploration company. Up to this day no government official has updated me about what is going on; because ministry officials do not take us (MPs) seriously," Reatile commented on Saturday.