Recently, President Masisi alluded to a slip in judgement on the arbitration clause of the agreement with De Beers, which stalled the negotiation. I saw how he laboured to try and explain what he clearly saw as carelessness by those who negotiated, endorsed and signed for that clause. But then, it is not only the arbitration clause gaffe we are faced with here. There are many other errors in that agreement, testifying to the lack of mind application by the respective negotiating committees with De Beer over the years. The SSV is one of those errors, or not well thought of aspects of the agreement.
As a 15% shareholder in De Beers, Botswana is not allowed access to the De Beers organ that manufactures this pricing system. That organ is the heart beat of De Beers as far as the bottom line is concerned, but Botswana’s part ownership of De Beers does not include that part. There is no indication to suggest this forms part of the current negotiations, meaning that for a long time we will be selling our diamonds to De Beers under those arrangements. It is a system that De Beers and its sightholders have had field days in Botswana for 54 years, grazing in Botswana’s green pastures, while voting citizens wallow in poverty, unemployment and continuous industry ignorance. I bet if anyone has even thought of this and as usual I might be mad to raise this aspect of our diamond trading deficient strategy.
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