Residents want piece of the diamond pie

Lebogang Mosikare | Thursday October 19, 2017 15:03

Jwaneng hosts the world’s richest mine by value, which has sustained the country’s economy for more than 30 years. However, residents feel that they have watched the diamond riches pass them by over the decades.

Customary court president, Itumeleng Mpaesele told Butale at a Kgotla meeting on Tuesday that the local residents are benefiting little from the Mine and called on initiatives to attract polishing companies to the town, in order to address runaway unemployment.

Mpaesele also remarked that the government should also consider an organisation that will take care of Jwaneng after closure of the Mine; something similar to SPEDU of Selebi-Phikwe. He was of the view that Jwaneng, which is solely dependent on diamonds, should be saved from being a ghost town.

A resident, Sheillah Mlazi also pleaded with government to close issuance of export permits, especially when there are more locally produced goods available. She said the move will closely monitor the small businesses and help them grow.

“Industrial plots are abandoned in Jwaneng and we have long requested to be given land to invest and create employment. It is not easy to get land in the town, and we are asking for intervention from the ministry,”  another resident, Jonathan Tebogo echoed Mlazi’s sentiments.

The secretary of Jwaneng Chamber of Commerce Julius Sebako asserted that their organisation encouraged entrepreneurship and the only disappointing factor was land. Sebako said it was not easy to acquire land to set up industries of any kind and, he further recommnded that Jwaneng be considered for special economic zoning, which will ultimately lead to setting up of diamond polishing companies.

 Butale swiftly conceded, concurring with the residents that an economic driving organisation similar to SPEDU was long overdue, especially at atime when the world’s economy was facing turbulences. He called on the business community to register their concern about land and industrial plots with the local authorities first, and follow that up with a letter to the ministry if their grievances were not attended to by local authorities, to their satisfaction.

But he challenged the residents to group themselves into cooperatives in order to do business with Jwaneng Mine on a large scale. He said through cooperatives, they can be able to do supplies of major commodities to the Mine, which include oil and other major equipment, that are used everyday at the Mine. He further highlighted that Botswana spends P70 billion annually to buy goods from outside and only receive P60 billion on her exports.

“Through citizen economic empowerment and the Economic Diversification Drive (EDD) programmes, we are tasked as a ministry to smoothen the prospects of doing business in Botswana and we will ensure that civil servants are up to standard with these government programmes for efficiency,” said Butale.

He further noted that EDD, which was a presidential directive of 2014, sought to reduce imports, thus encouraging local entrepreneurship and simultenously creating employment.