Botswana's diamond revolution begins today
Finally, the die is cast.
Monday, the 27th of March 2023 dawns a new era in Botswana’s diamond economy, when diamond technology company HB Botswana, will be officially launched at its temporary facility at the Diamond Technology Park in Gaborone by President Dr. Mokgweetsi Masisi in the presence of Matthias Diependaele.
Diependaele is the Minister of Finance, Budget, Living, and Immovable Heritage of Flanders. He will be representing the Minister-President of Flanders Jan Jambon. Flanders is a region in Belgium where Antwerp is located.
HB Botswana is a carbon copy of HB Antwerp, which was recruited to come and set up here as a diamond cutting and polishing outfit by Botswana Investment and Trade Centre (BITC) thanks to the efforts of its indefatigable chief executive officer, Olebile Kelotsositse.
Also present at the historic event will be Simon Vandeasteel, the Deputy Chief of Staff to Minister Diependaele; Michèle Surinx, Director Strategy of Flanders Investment and Trade, representing the CEO of Flanders Investment and Trade, Joy Donné; Geraldine Rymenants, the Diplomatic Representative of Flanders; Julie Bynens, Secretaris Generaal Departement Kanselarij en Buitenlandse Zaken; and Naseem Lahri, Managing Director, Karowe mine.
Masisi will have on tow his Ministers of Minerals Lefoko Moagi and Finance, Peggy Serame; Permanent Secretary to the President Emma Peloetletse; Deputy PS to the President Matshidiso Bokole; Permanent Secretary to the Minister of Minerals Ellen Madisa; Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Africa Lighthouse Capital, Bame Pule and the Ambassador of Botswana in Belgium, Mmasekgoa Masire-Mwamba.
Of-course the toast of the day will be the HB Antwerp co-founders - Rafael Papismedov, Oded Mansori, and Shai De Toledo as well as the HB Botswana team members, who will explain the different stations and show the technology when this high-powered delegation tours the facility in the presence of both the local and international Press.
The tour will be followed by the unveiling of the HB Botswana logo. The logo will be installed on an easel, covered with a black tablecloth. The President, Dr. Masisi, Ministers Moagi and Diependaele as well as the HB founders will then unveil the logo.
Once this part is done and dusted with, the procession will continue to the Botswana Innovation Hub - the future permanent residence of HB Botswana - where the crux of this ‘revolution’ will unravel from HB Co-Founder Rafael Papismedov’s presentation titled, ‘A look into the Future of HB Botswana’.
Minister Moagi will then pick up the cue with his lecture, ‘From a resource-based to a knowledge-based economy’; and then Flanders Minister for Finance Matthias Diependaele will talk to ‘A new partnership between Flanders and Botswana’.
President Masisi will then make an ‘Appreciation speech’ followed by a ‘symbolic celebration of future cooperation between HB and the Botswana Innovation Hub’. To seal the ceremony, the President will be invited to the stage for his hand palm print and the artist will explain the vision behind the art piece. It is significant that this auspicious ceremony comes at a time when the Government of Botswana, led by PS Ellen Madisa is engaged in high-level negotiations with De Beers for the renewal of a diamond sales contract. The writing is already on the wall – President Masisi has reiterated, with a stern face, that Botswana wants more from the over 53-year partnership with De Beers.
He wants the country’s stake in the sales contract, which expires in June this year after countless extensions, increased from 25 percent to 50 percent. It is a take it or leave it offer. But, what informs President Masisi’s confidence – in fact some say boisterousness? The President dropped a hint recently during a Press conference when he emphasised that, ‘It’s time’ for Botswana to participate in the sales and marketing of its diamonds.
“Besides the fact that the diamonds are ours, (Batswana’s natural endowment) it doesn’t make sense for us, to continue to relegate ourselves to participating in the rough stones space only because if you look at the quantum of business in that space, it’s very small relative to the size of business in the value-added”.
Masisi said it is only logical for Botswana to now play in the value-added space because when she renegotiated the contract with De Beers in 2011, for the first time in the history of Botswana’s relationship with De Beers, “We were able to open a small window” when we demanded 10 percent of our diamonds to be sold to what would be created as diamond company owned completely by the Botswana government (Okavango Diamond Company) that we could sell independently of De Beers.
This request was regarded by De Beers as ‘mischief’ because all of a sudden Botswana wanted to discover price, wanted to learn, to discover marketing, wanted to discover the market – and in the words of Masisi, “indeed we succeeded in some measure of discovery of that, and it taught us enough, for us to now sit around the table, as we are sitting with De Beers, and look them in the eye and tell them, no, no! we can’t continue with this no
more!”
And when the sales agreement lapsed during the negotiations, Botswana then put in a provision that she will want 25 percent and again, Masisi said they discovered more – hence the country wants more in the current negotiations because it has learnt more.
“We want to do what we have learnt – and what we have learnt in outcome terms means that we can make much, much more money than we have been making by selling rough, we can develop more skills independently, successfully – and we have engaged the market. We know what we are talking about”!
Could it be that Masisi was talking about a possible partnership between Okavango Diamond Company and HB Botswana? “The relationship has to got to systematically and fundamentally be altered so that the partnership is strengthened,” he said.
And indeed when he tours the HB Botswana facility on Monday, Masisi will see his dream of a knowledge economy close to reality. For here, he will meet Tlotlego Motsomi – the expert in the Galaxy Room – the first port of call for the dual analysis of the rough stones.
He will see Batswana diamond engineers at ease as they operate hi-tech Galaxy 1000 and Galaxy Ultra machines; the Sarine Scanners and the Sigmund Droids, the polishing robots that put the facets on diamonds operated by Motswana engineer, Moses Molatlhegi. Data Operators Mbako Motshwari and Kgosietsile Lenyatso will also be at hand to explain what obtains in the Laser Department and how the Da Vinci Machine cuts the diamonds.
And finally at the decision room – the rough and semi polished rooms, the delegation will meet Charity Mmuso and Natasha Machila as well as Pamela Moeti who deal with the rough model, the rough stone from the mine. Prince Chidzala, another Planner, will attest how HB Botswana aspires to make Botswana a “diamond hub” not just for Africa, but for the rest of the world. He will speak passionately about the how the value of the rough and polished diamonds differ and why Botswana must take up its space in the sales function.
And, should De Beers fail to agree to Botswana’s terms during these negotiations before the contract lapses in June, the writing is clear on the wall that a new partnership between Okavango Diamond Company and HB Botswana - which already enjoys a partnership with Lucara, where it sells the company’s special stones from Karowe mine – is on the cards. This, no doubt, will mark the beginning of Botswana’s diamond revolution.