16 Jan 2025

 United Kingdom Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Africa, Lord Collins of Highbury has lauded Debswana mining company for its robust strategies intended to diversify the economy and create employment opportunities across the value chain.

He said the company’s up-skilling programme, which also promoted inclusivity for women was instrumental in enhancing economic growth and sustainability beyond diamond mining.

Lord Collins noted that the company’s programmes resonated with the UK government and the government of Botswana’s shared objectives of economic diversification, increasing trade and skills as well as job creation.

“I have heard positive news here today, there are very good examples of how we can make a difference. I also think this facility has a very good record in terms of employment, up-skilling and particularly huge progress is being made in terms of employing women and up-skilling them to a whole range of jobs, ” he said during a tour of Jwaneng Mine on Thursday.

Notwithstanding, he underscored the need to utilise solar energy which Botswana received in abundance, towards sustainable economic growth.

 He noted that the partnership between the two governments had the potential to use solar energy to create new jobs for the communities.

“Another key element is using one of the natural resources Botswana has, which is solar energy, as key to economic growth and development of new jobs,” he said.

Debswana managing director, Mr Andrew Motsomi saw the visit as a good opportunity for the company to showcase how safe and environmentally friendly their operations were and to boost the image of their product in the markets.

He noted that hosting the UK delegation would have a positive impact and reflection of their operations, amidst the declining natural diamond sales.

“This is an opportunity for us to raise the profile of our natural diamonds coming from very difficult trading conditions that we currently have. It is important for people coming from advanced countries to come and see our operations and see that we are mining diamonds in a responsible and environmentally-friendly way because these are some of the requirements consistent with environmental and social governance issues,” he said.

He noted that beyond diamond mining, they continued to invest in various strategic opportunities intended to create a sustainable economic environment for the communities.

Mr Motsomi said they had so far spent around P20 billion through the Citizen Economic Empowerment Programme towards supporting citizen-owned entities who provided them with goods and services.

However, he said the intention was to graduate these suppliers into the mining value chain development sectors such as manufacturing, repair and maintenance, among others. ENDS