Botswana’s diamonds industry has turned into a contentious campaign issue to decide the outcome of Botswana’s general elections, which are scheduled for October 30.

The ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) has won every election since the country’s independence in 1966, but this year the Botswana Congress Party, Umbrella for Democratic Change, and Botswana Patriotic Front are keen to change that.

At the centre of the campaign is the diamond issue. In February 2023, President Masisi threatened to sever ties with Anglo-American, a diamond mining and marketing company that owns 85% of De Beers, while Botswana owns 15%. A new agreement with De Beers was announced in June 2023, enabling Botswana to sell more rough stones.

Although the new agreement has been hailed within ruling BDP, President Masisi’s political rivals have charged that Masisi is employing stronger nationalist language against De Beers as a ploy to win over more voters.

Masisi accusations of the handling of the diamond issue was given winds by the figures from Botswana’s central bank, showing sales of rough diamonds at Debswana Diamond Company decreased by 49.2% in the first half of this year, reaching $1.29 billion from $2.54 billion during the same period last year.

Due mostly to decreased diamond production, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) cut Botswana’s 2024 growth forecast in July from an earlier April estimate of 3.6% to 1%.
The IMF stated in a statement that a decline in mineral earnings is also likely to cause the budget deficit to increase from 3.45% to 6%.

It appears that Masisi’s opponents have benefited politically from the poor diamond sales, blaming the drop in sales and the nation’s budget on Masisi’s management of the diamond deal with De Beers.

Addressing a political rally at Maun Bus Rank on Wednesday, BCP leader, Dumelang Saleshando accused President Masisi of misbehaving to the De Beers in negotiating an improved deal.

Saleshando believed that President Masisi had abused the De Beers throughout the process of negotiating a better deal, and he added that Masisi’s bad interactions with De Beers might be the reason for the decline in diamond sales.

He stated: ‘’ The president has mistreated DeBeers, which is in charge of the world’s diamond output. Although nothing has been signed as of yet, he is using all the populist gimmicks to claim to have found the best diamond deal. Since no one is currently purchasing Botswana diamonds, they are stockpiling as a result.

According to Saleshando, it is strange that despite being the best in the world, Botswana diamonds are not being purchased in comparison to diamonds from Namibia and Angola, which are of poorer grade but still in demand.

Saleshando reiterated that following the economic sanctions imposed on Russia, the world’s largest diamond producer, there is a global scarcity of diamonds. Without success, Botswana was expected to profit greatly from this scarcity. Because of the worldwide scarcity, Botswana could optimize its earnings, he reasoned.

‘’The global diamond market is closely monitoring the upcoming elections. Voting for the BDP means opposing the purchase of diamonds from Botswana. This country will soon run out of money to even pay government servants if you continue to vote for Masisi,” Saleshando said.