26 Oct 2022

Francistowners and their neighbours were last week treated to a rare moment of seeing Botswana’s rough diamonds on display during a two-day National Business Conference held at Andonsonia JHotel.

The conference was in line with De Beers Group objective of ensuring Batswana get an opportunity to view and appreciate diamonds. In an interview, Ms Phindani Thabiwa and her grandson Jacob Gabotsalwe from Nswazwi expressed gratitude to De Beers for having brought diamonds to the city of Francistown.

Ms Thabiwa said that they were privileged to have been part of the first people who graced the showroom when it was opened for public viewing.

Interestingly, she said that it was by divine arrangement that they found themselves queued up to view the precious stones because they had come to Adansonia Hotel for something else.

 “We were dropping somebody off at the gate when a security guard told my grandson tsamaya o ye go bontsha mosadimogolo Teemane and we thought he was referring to a person named Teemane so we walked up here.”

They were amazed at the sight of the rough diamonds and the jewellery on display.

All along Ms Thabiwa had thought diamonds were bigger than semi-precious stones that she always saw around A youthful Sethunya Botsile, a Francistown resident said that she found out that diamonds would be on display on Facebook.

 She was blown away by the gems’ beauty. ‘’I don’t know how to put it in words, it’surreal…” she said after seeing the diamonds Like many Batswana she had only read about diamonds and how they contributed to Botswana’s economy.

 But now that she had seen them, she felt a special affinity to the stones, as she realised the government used revenue from their sale to give her free education and health services as well as build infrastructure. She was speaking for many Batswana who have and continue to benefit from the government’s benevolence.

 De Beers Global Site Holder Sales External communications manager, Ms Kesego Okie said they took advantage of the conference venue to allow Batswana opportunity the gems. And they had not imagined there was such a great hunger among Batswana to learn about the mineral as had now become apparent.

 “Many people wonder how something that is exhumed from the ground can sparkle so much and be so expensive. We are trying to satisfy their curiosity by allowing them to see the diamond” she said.

 Not only that, Ms Okie said. The public was taken through the process of mining diamonds, the cutting, polishing and sorting and the Four C’s of Diamonds being Colour, Clarity, Cut and Carat. Ms Okie said Debeers decided to display the diamonds at Adansonia Hotel because the venue provided adequate security. She regretted however that people in places far from Francistown had not had the same opportunity, and hoped to repeat the feat in those places, circumstances permitting. She said as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility projects for the Conference, De Beers Group donated P150 000 toward community development in Francistown where they identified needs at SOS and Lephoi Centre for the Deaf through the Office of the District Commissioner.  ENDS