Botswana unearths rare track diamonds
Mqondisi Dube | Monday October 27, 2025 06:40
On the fringes of the vast Kalahari desert, which stretches more than 900,000 square kilometres across three countries, lies Botswana’s most valuable commodity: the sparkling diamond.
The diamonds have been the mainstay of the country’s economy, driving the nation’s prosperity since independence. Botswana is now the world’s largest producer of diamonds by value, a development credited with lifting the country from rags to riches.
At independence in 1966, Botswana’s voice was hardly audible on global platforms after the country obtained the right to self-rule after years as a British Protectorate.
But the discovery of diamonds vastly transformed Botswana’s trajectory as the country climbed out of its cacophony to take its place amongst the most stable economies on the continent. From then on, it has been a sparkling case as diamonds have powered Botswana’s development, elevating the nation to upper-middle-income economy. But whilst the enduring line when diamonds first came to the fore was, ‘diamonds are forever’, recent turbulence points to an industry at an inflexion point.
Botswana and other key global diamond producers face an uncertain period with depressed prices and threats posed by lab-grown diamonds. Notwithstanding, the country’s mining history is littered with countless success stories of giant gems unearthed from its mines, including the second-largest stone ever mined, the 2,488-carat diamond named Motswedi.
But as Botswana’s ‘golden goose’ confronts the industry headwinds, another rare find has emerged to grab worldwide attention.
Away from the rumbling mine machines, thick clouds of dust, and the stadium-sized open pits, Botswana is unearthing its own set of gems.
Previously an underwhelming sport nation, even attracting the ‘whipping boys’ tag, the country has emerged as a producer of sparkling athletics talent. The evolution has been rapid, in the process shaking the established world athletics order.
Signs of a flickering flame can be traced to the 2000 Sidney Olympic Games, when 800m runner, Glody Dube, against all odds, made it to the finals, where he finished eighth. It was an achievement widely celebrated by a country that had become accustomed to constant numbed heartaches.
In 2002, as a way to turn fortunes around, Botswana’s sport authorities introduced a development programme, Re Ba Bona Ha.
The initiative targets young athletes from the ages of five, aiming to nurture and develop talent in its formative years.
“The programme has paid dividends. Some of the successes that we see today are a direct result of this programme,” former Botswana National Sport Commission CEO, Kitso Kemoeng says of a programme he was instrumental in introducing.
The first tangible harvests of the fruits of the initiative came in 2011 when Botswana produced her first-ever world champion in Amantle Montsho, who conquered at the World Championships held in Daegu, South Korea.
This opened the floodgates of success as the following year, at the London 2012 Olympic Games, Botswana won her first-ever medal at the games, a silver through Nijel Amos.
Despite a small population of around two million, Botswana stood shoulder-to-shoulder with established giants, including Jamaica and the United States, with a combined population of 335 million.
Success has come in droves for Botswana in recent years.
The 4x400m relay team won a gold medal at this year’s World Championships, the first by an African country since the inaugural competition in 1983. The achievement broke a long-held dominance by the United States and Jamaica.
The relay team also has a bronze medal from the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, which saw the achievement celebrated with each athlete honoured with a two-bedroom house.
“This is our thank you to the athletes. It is a message to all aspiring sportspersons that they can make a living through sport,” said then Minister of Sport, Tumiso Rakgare, at the ceremony to hand over the houses.
Botswana’s brightest talent emerged after the Tokyo Olympics, with the star athlete, Letsile Tebogo, announcing his arrival in grand style in 2022.
He smashed the 100m junior world record in Colombia in 2021, setting a new mark of 9.91 seconds, which immediately sparked comparisons with the greatest sprinter of all time, Jamaican Usain Bolt.
Further, Tebogo became the first African to win a gold medal in the 200m when he landed the title of Olympic champion in Paris in 2024.
The unassuming star beat a long-standing 27-year Africa 200m record previously held by Namibian Frankie Fredricks.
“The impact of what these athletes have achieved, coming from a small nation like ours, has been unbelievable,” Mpho Mokwena, a school coach, says. “It has shone the light on us, and at schools, we see more and more learners giving attention to sport.”
The government, in response to the impact of Botswana’s athletics, has reviewed sportsperson’s allowances through an Incentive Policy first introduced in 2012.
From paying a meagre $3 (P50) in allowances, athletes now take home around $9,000 for winning medals in international competitions.
Under the revised policy, winning a medal at the Olympic Games guarantees athletes handsome cash rewards and houses.
Botswana’s rise from a punching bag on the sports field was recently amplified when the country finished fifth at the 2025 World Championships. It only trailed the United States of America, Kenya, Canada, and the Netherlands, and ahead of established sprint giants like Jamaica, France, and Ethiopia, known for its dominance in the long and middle distances.
At the championships in Tokyo, Botswana produced her second world champion, Collen Kebinatshipi, who won gold in the 400m, and for the first time, an African country had three finalists in the 400m.
Further, Botswana has shown that it has more in store with the conveyor belt unleashing 20-year-old Justice Oratile, one of the country’s brightest stars, amongst others in the talent inventory.