Botswana mining nothing, displacing no one?

A diamond company may soon start mining in the disputed Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR) in Botswana. The Botswana Environmental Department "has indicated that they do not objective to mining within the CKGR in principle," says a representative of Gemstone which bought the concession from De Beers recently, but don't tell that to the Botswana government. Khadija Sharife reports.

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The term Gope, an appellation describing a region located within Botswana's Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR), quite simply means nothing. Botswana is the world's largest diamond producer, and the CKGR lies smack dab in the middle of one of its richest diamond fields.

Since the early 1970s, this precious gem-stone known as "Adamas" or "Invincible" by the Ancient Greeks, has transformed Botswana-a country of less than two million people. Diamonds comprise over 80% of the economy, 50% of government revenue, and 35% of the gross domestic product (GDP).

Although Botswana holds 23% of the world's diamond market with a cumulative total value of $3.2bn annually, one third of the population lives in poverty.

The country has an official unemployment rate of 24.5% while unofficial estimates place it at 40%. This, despite the fact that the country has one of the world's highest economic growth rates, with a per capita GDP of $11,000 in 2006. The bulk of Botswana's 288,000 strong labour force is concentrated in the mining industry.

Southern Africa overall contributes about 43% of the world's uncut and unpolished diamonds, directly implying that little or no benefit is accrued by the continent when it comes to finishing the product--as yet. In 2003, 92% of industrial diamonds were cut in India; other finishing hubs include Tel Aviv, New York and Amsterdam.

The Belgian city of Antwerp is known as the "diamond capital" of the world, even though Belgium produces no diamonds. Over 80% of gem diamonds are cut and finished in Antwerp, while 84% of finished diamonds are sold in New York, USA.

The diamond trade is a global cartel controlled by a few key players, the most prominent of which is De Beers, founded in 1888 by Cecil Rhodes. Based in Johannesburg, South Africa, De Beers has a presence in over 25 countries and is the primary handlerof more than 45% of the world's diamond trade. In 2005, its revenues exceeded $6.5 billion. De Beers is active in all aspects of the diamond industry, from exploration to mining, trading and finishing, sales and marketing. Its mining activities are largely concentrated in four countries: South Africa, Botswana, Tanzania and Namibia.

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Botswana of course is the prize market-mining via Debswana, a joint venture between De Beers and the Botswana government, which was founded in 1969 after the discovery of the Orapa Diamond Mine. Orapa-meaning "the resting place of lions"-is the most lucrative diamond mine on earth. Debswana alone produces 30% of the world's diamonds from just four mines: Letlhakane, Jwaneng, Damtshaa and Orapa. But another has since been found-Gope.

According to Angela Parr of Gem Diamonds: "The settlement of Gope was established as a result of diamond prospecting as opposed to having been closed down because of diamond mining. It was the availability of water at the prospecting site that had attracted people there and led to the establishment of a settlement."

Unfortunately, at no point did the high court enquire as to the name of the "Gope" region by the Basarwa. The Basarwa people who were featured in the 1980s' film, The Gods Must Be Crazy, are often called Bushmen, a derogatory term suffused with racist undertones, portraying the history of their culture, peoples and traditions as primitive and valueless in the modern "civilised", industrialised and high-tech world.

The Basarwa refer to themselves as "Xu Wasi" or "Real People", identical in definition to the terminology ascribed by native Indians of South and North America who call themselves the "First Peoples".

The primary theme of the movie falsely portrays the Basarwa as simple, innocent and noble savages unable to accustom or adapt themselves to both the beneficial and the destructive elements of the modern world.

Yet there are over 50,000 San rock art sites in Southern Africa, with the highest concentrations found in Botswana, followed by Namibia and thereafter South Africa; each piece of artwork depict sophisticated metaphorical expressions of Basarwa society andcivilisation-one that is not acknowledged by the modern world of uni-polarity.

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The Basarwa's art is certainly proof of the high level of consciousness that indicates the lack of simpleness, and consequently, the degree and measure of their intelligence as the equivalent to current civilisation. The Basarwa, many of whom have since been relocated by the government of Botswana to two "resettlement camps", are the oldest indigenous inhabitants in the region.

Yet, according to Miriam Ross of Survival International, an organisation supporting marginalised "tribal" people worldwide, the Basarwa were consulted "only once with a small number of Bushmen at Kaudwane resettlement camp". Kaudwane is one of two relocation camps created by the government for the 2000 Basarwa inhabitants of the CKGR.

Despite the fact that international law recognises the rights of the native to formal tilling of land inhabited, the Botswana government appears to have conducted a deliberate policy of eviction.

In 1998, a feasibility study of the region by De Beers was completed. Since then, the government has executed a continuous forced relocation campaign, closing down boreholes and grossly restricting the Basarwa from access to water. They are additionally not granted permits by the Department of Wildlife to hunt in the Reserve, leading to starvation in one of the most arid regions of the country. Family members are prevented from delivering supplies by government officials.

The government claims that the relocation was done with consent of the Basarwa. According to the government, it was meant to improve their living conditions through access to medical, educational, and other infrastructural facilities.

In a land case brought by the San against the government, they have argued successfully in the Botswana high court that their relocation had more to do with the discovery of diamonds. The government denied this.

But Angela Parr of Gem Diamonds (which recently took on a concession from De Beers) told New African that Gem Diamonds paid $34m for 100% of the share capital of Gope Exploration (Pty) Ltd, which was held by a joint venture between De Beers and Xstrata. At that time, Gope Exploration held a suspended retention licence over the Gope area. Subsequent to the sale, neither De Beers nor Xstrata holds any interest in Gope.

She reveals: "The Gope deposit is estimated to hold approximately 18.9 million carats worth of diamonds at an estimated diamond value of $131 per carat, indicating a total resource value of $2.475bn. Of course there is always a differential between the total resource and what the mineable resource is, but that is a function of a mine plan that is not yet in place."

She said Gem Diamonds had visited the relocation camps as part of the environmental impact assessment. Public participation meetings were also held at a number of community centres, including those adjacent to the CKGR. She adds: "The relocation [of the Basarwa] happened prior to Gem Diamonds acquiring Gope, so there was no formal response on the part of the company as we were not invested in Botswana or Gope at that time."

Parr discloses that the Botswana Environmental Department "has indicated that they do not object to mining within the CKGR in principle. However their formal approval forms part of the 'mining licence application process' that is yet to start. Only once our environmental impact assessment and environmental management plan have been submitted to the department in full and the department has given their express approval, will we be able to confirm that we have the go ahead. This is a few months away."

A press release by Gem Diamonds articulating the details of the Gope concession says that Marsh Vikela (Pty) Limited, an insurance broker and risk adviser based in Johannesburg, will be the independent body to do both the environmental impact assessment and management plan. Marsh Vikela is a subsidiary of Marsh & McLennan Companies (MMC), with global revenues of over $12bn. The government of Botswana as equal joint venture partner with De Beers certainly stands to make a great deal of money from the Gope concession, while, according to Jonathan Mazower of Survival International, "all the usual indices of development-child mortality, levels of suicide, alcoholism, etc-have increased since the government relocated the Bushmen... It is too early to tell what benefits the Bushmen may receive from the mine. In all about 1,500 of them have been relocated over the last 10 years."

Mazower continues: "The Botswana high court ruled that the Bushmen had been evicted 'forcefully, wrongly and without their consent'. Most independent observers testify that conditions in the relocation camps are very grim. The Bushmen live in very crowded conditions."

Mazower said it was odd that the government was prepared to allow a large mine in a game reserve, when one of the reasons it gave for the evictions was for the conservation of the reserve's wildlife and environment. "The Bushmen are classed simply as 'remote area dwellers'. They do not have title to most of their traditional lands. The Bushmen of the CKGR have no title at all. Yet, according to the official PR spin, no one at all is being displaced; no one," Mazower says dejectedly.

"The Botswana high court ruled that the Bushmen had been evicted 'forcefully, wrongly and without their consent'."