While De Beers, gov’t negotiate, new threats emerge
Tuesday, June 27, 2023 | 4190 Views |
Bruce Cleaver and Masisi PIC: DIAMOND DO GOOD
It would have been natural to assume that the 30,000-plus diamond industry professionals who gathered in Las Vegas, USA for the annual JCK Show recently, would have, uppermost in their minds, the ongoing talks and tensions between government and De Beers on a new deal.
After all, as has been repeatedly pointed out, the 54-year old deal between the two partners is the diamond industry’s single most important covenant, each year producing the world’s highest production of rough diamonds by value.
When the State cannot rely on its own machinery to pursue suspected wrongdoing, repairing that machinery must become a national priority.The establishment of a Special Investigations and Asset Recovery Task Force may help government respond to the immediate challenge. However, Botswana cannot afford to leave the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC) and the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) struggling whilst building...