How is De Beers involved?
De Beers operates all Botswana’s diamond mines and markets all its diamonds. It retains the biggest known diamond find in the reserve – at a Bushman community called Gope – under licence. It operates in Botswana under a 50:50 joint venture with the Botswanan government called ‘Debswana’. As well as owning half of Debswana, the Botswana government owns 15% of De Beers as a whole. Senior government figures are on the Debswana board. Botswana’s President describes his government and De Beers as ‘Siamese twins’. What has De Beers said? Debswana’s managing director at the time of the 2002 eviction backed the forced removals, saying, ‘The government was justified in removing the Basarwa (Bushmen)… It is sensible of government to take such action.’ De Beers falsely alleges that there were no Bushmen living at Gope before it started its test mine. It is in fact part of the Bushmen’s ancestral territory. The company opposes the recognition of indigenous peoples’ rights in Africa (although it ha
