: The state-owned Okavango Diamond Company (ODC) has begun increasing its share of rough diamonds from the Debswana joint venture. It started at 30% and is scheduled to reach 50% by the end of the contract.
The partnership was forged in the late 1960s by Botswana’s founding President, Sir Seretse Khama, and De Beers chairman Harry Oppenheimer. At the time, Botswana was dirt-poor, and De Beers was the absolute monarch of global diamonds. Khama offered a deal: De Beers could mine, but Botswana would get 50% of the profits.
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For decades, the partnership between Botswana and De Beers operated via Debswana , a 50-50 joint venture. While the arrangement historically transformed Botswana from one of the world's poorest nations at independence into an upper-middle-income economy, critics argued that too much downstream value—sorting, polishing, and marketing—remained trapped in foreign hands. Recent historic agreements completely upended this dynamic: How Diamonds Made Botswana Rich - Facebook : The state-owned Okavango Diamond Company (ODC) has
An initial BWP 1 billion (approx. $75 million) investment by De Beers to help diversify the economy, with potential for further contributions.
Botswana and De Beers recently renegotiated their agreement. Key wins for Botswana include:
For now, the raw deal continues, but the battle for the future of the world's most famous diamonds has only just begun. At the time, Botswana was dirt-poor, and De
De Beers took the vast majority of the rough diamonds to sell through its global network of "Sightholders".
One of the main criticisms is that the diamond industry has made Botswana too dependent on a single commodity. This has made the country vulnerable to fluctuations in the global diamond market, and has limited the country's ability to diversify its economy.
Beyond the question of ownership, President Boko is aggressively pushing a policy of local "beneficiation"—keeping more of the diamond value chain within Botswana’s borders. The government has declared that "no diamond will leave this country raw" and has mandated that all stones must be cut and polished locally. While past attempts at beneficiation have been hampered by a lack of skilled labor, the new administration sees it as essential for creating jobs and building a sustainable, post-mining economy. The government is also making a clear stand against lab-grown diamonds, refusing to associate with them and doubling down on marketing natural gems as a premium, ethical luxury product. Alternatively, I can help you locate the original
For the first time in history, the government of President Mokgweetsi Masisi is publicly saying "yes"—and demanding a divorce settlement that could shatter the cartel forever.
But beneath the surface of this success story, long-standing grievances have festered. Critics have always pointed to a fundamental imbalance: Botswana supplies an astonishing 70% of De Beers' rough diamonds, yet until recently, it only owned 15% of the diamond giant itself. For many in Botswana, it was a partnership of unequals, where the country took the geological risk while the majority of the value flowed back to London and the Anglo-American shareholders.