Minister of Trade and Industry Mmusi Kgafela last week confirmed government owned Okavango Diamond Company (ODC) made P1, 4 billion Pula at the 2020 Dubai Expo held between October 2021 and March 2022. Answering a question by Nata-Gweta legislator Paulson Majaga on how much the government generated in investment from the Expo Kgafela said ODC in partnership with Dubai Multi Commodity Centre (DMCC) generated over a billion Pula which figures the Minister said were a rarity in a one day diamond auction sale.
The revelation comes at a time when ODC is locked in an intellectual property theft over the Dubai diamond sales.
ODC faces a P133 million lawsuit by a local businessman, Isaac Leshona, for intellectual property theft.
According to court papers, on various dates between October 5, 2020 and November 12, 2020, Leshona shared a business proposal (titled : O.D.C Diamond Auction, Dubai) with indicative quotations, offering to support ODC with facilitation and marketing solutions to promote and sell ODC products by venturing into the Dubai market and participating in auctions at the DDE.
The court documents indicate how on various dates between November 2020 and June 2021, the ODC’s current Chief Executive Officer Mmetla Masire (then Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Mineral Resources, Green Technology and Energy Security) and other officers of the government owned company acknowledged receipt of the proposal and offer to support ODC with facilitation and marketing solutions to promote and sell its products by venturing into the Dubai market. Masire assumed the reigns as the CEO of the ODC in July 2021 following his resignation as Permanent Secretary and his short stint as Minerals Advisor in the same Ministry of Minerals.
Leshona had earlier, in April 2021, expressed his apprehension that having received his proposal, Masire was now set to become the next CEO of the ODC and would implement the ideas set out in the Proposal despite the company’s initial stance that it would be counterproductive to implement the ideas, the court papers indicate.
However, sometime in October 2021, Leshona became aware from press statements issued by the company that ODC had participated at the Dubai Diamond Exchange and conducted a diamond auction in Dubai in a surprising adaptation of his proposal.
“The Plaintiff (Leshona) believes that Defendant, represented by Mr Masire as the new CEO, implemented the business strategy that was originated, motivated, proposed and authored by Plaintiff, without consent of the Plaintiff. The defendant (ODC) is in breach of the Plaintiff’s Copyright over the document, and Plaintiff apprehends that if not restrained, the Defendant will continue to benefit from adaptation of his proposal without reference to the plaintiff for consent and/or offer of equitable compensation,” Leshona says in a lawsuit filed through his lawyers, Piyush Sharma Attorneys.
It is currently not a matter of court records how much ODC made from their Dubai sales through the “stolen” idea.
ODC has denied liability to Leshona for the Copyright infringement, and refused to pay him the amount quoted, or any amount at all. Consequently, Leshona holds ODC liable for infringement of his copyright arising from use or adaptation of his original work without his consent, and claims a sum of US$11,675,000.00 constituted as: US$ 175,000.00 for Business Development; US$ 11,000,000.00 being 2.5% of sales revenue from four auctions charged as Commission fees; and US$ 500,000.00 being damages for loss of future business.
