Whether the benefit to Botswana is commensurate with the benefits De Beers derived from Botswana diamonds, is debatable and is best left to the analysis of Botswana academics. The subject of this article is to interrogate De Beers's lack of commitment to the direct and meaningful economic upliftment of Botswana citizens in the diamond industry. In my last article I expressed confidence in the new De Beers self declared born again attitude, to address the social and economic imbalances of its past practices. But, disappointingly not much has changed. There continues to be big mismatches between the public relations statements often heard and the actual situation on the ground.
Since its arrival in Botswana, De Beers has sought to do business solely with the Botswana government. And with this, totally ignored its social responsibility (as a corporate citizen of long standing, and a leading beneficiary of Botswana's diamond wealth), to devise proactive policies for the empowerment of citizens in the direct and hands-on running of the industry. Over 40 years of De Beers presence in Botswana has not produced citizen local diamond entrepreneurs at any level of the diamond pipeline. Whilst in South Africa De Beers has taken a broad based black empowerment group as its partners in diamond mining, and requires its sightholders to partner with black empowerment groups, in Botswana it has tended to prefer partnering with the government infinitively. Regrettable is the fact that there has not been any attempt by the government to encourage De Beers to partner with citizens. But, does it have to take persuasion or coercion to do so? As a self declared good corporate citizen and supporter of African diamond producers value addition initiatives, does De Beers not have a sense of righteousness, and the common sense to know that maintaining the status quo is morally deficient, and that it cannot be allowed to last forever?
