The question of whether is getting a "raw deal" from De Beers has shifted from a heated debate over sales percentages to a high-stakes battle for ownership. For decades, the partnership was hailed as a global model for resource management, transforming Botswana from one of the world's poorest nations in 1966 into an upper-middle-income economy.
"The next five years are existential," says diamond analyst Paul Zimnisky. "Botswana needs De Bees’ branding and market control to keep natural diamonds exclusive. But De Bees needs Botswana’s high-quality stones to maintain its supply chain. Whoever blinks first loses." The question of whether is getting a "raw
"This is not greed," Masisi told parliament last year. "It is arithmetic. We dig the hole. We take the risk. We deserve the margin." "Botswana needs De Bees’ branding and market control
For nearly a century, the name De Beers has been synonymous with diamonds. For half of that time, the economic fate of Botswana has been inseparable from the glittering stones pulled from the red earth of the Kalahari. It is a partnership often cited as a unique model of development—a symbiosis where a multinational corporation provided the expertise, and an emerging nation provided the resources, lifting one of the poorest countries in the world into the ranks of upper-middle-income status. "It is arithmetic