Mmegi

Boko’s frustrations with De Beers rise

President Boko. PIC MORERI SEJAKGOMO
President Boko. PIC MORERI SEJAKGOMO

President Duma Boko says he has set a July 31 deadline for diamond partner, De Beers, to have sold off a stockpile of diamonds mined last year, an amount he estimates at 10 million carats.

Speaking off-speech over the weekend at the Botswana National Front congress as the party’s president, Boko expressed frustration with the slow sales by De Beers, the country’s partner of 56 years in diamonds.

“We are in trouble. The challenges for the leadership is how to get out of these difficulties. “At the markets for diamonds, the whole stock of diamonds that was dug up in 2024 has not been bought; it was not sold. We are not counting the one for this year. “Others say it cannot be sold, and they have their many reasons. “The bottom line is that money is not coming in, and as this is not happening, the doctors want money, the teachers want money, and schools don’t have what they need. “These things are all happening at once while we are sitting on top of 10 million carats from 2024 that have not been bought. “This means that there should be unusual decisions that some may believe are provocative. “The order I have taken out is by telling those who are taking care of these diamonds, by July 31, 2025, part of these diamonds must have been sold.”

Editor's Comment
Human rights are sacred

It highlights the need to protect rights such as access to clean water, education, healthcare and freedom of expression.President Duma Boko, rightly honours past interventions from securing a dignified burial for Gaoberekwe Pitseng in the CKGR to promoting linguistic inclusion. Yet, they also expose a critical truth, that a nation cannot sustainably protect its people through ad hoc acts of compassion alone.It is time for both government and the...

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