- and political price of advocating for reform
Former President Mokgweetsi Masisi recently delivered a candid and at times combative reflection on Botswana’s diamond negotiations, statecraft and the political price of reform during a public lecture at the University of Namibia.
Speaking to students and academics, the Masisi revisited Botswana’s evolution as a developmental state, arguing that while many observers focus on outcomes, few interrogate the construction behind the country’s economic model particularly its strategic positioning in the global diamond industry.
Masisi defended Botswana’s historical approach to negotiating with multinational mining interests, saying the country’s equity stakes were born out of vulnerability rather than luck.
“We were landlocked, surrounded for much of our early history by hostile regimes,” he said, noting that diamonds were a strategic asset in a precarious geopolitical environment.
The Botswana government owns 15 percent of De Beers, a stake Masisi described as “fully paid for.” Through this shareholding, Botswana benefits from dividends and exposure to global diamond operations.
But Masisi argued that early negotiations were conducted from a position of inexperience.
“We were total novices. We knew nothing about mining. We knew nothing about diamonds,” he said, explaining that government reinvested diamond revenues into training and institutional capacity to build local expertise.
A significant portion of his address focused on Botswana’s recent renegotiations with Debswana the joint venture between the Botswana government and De Beers whose agreements were due to lapse during his term in office. Masisi said he viewed the timing as an opportunity too significant to ignore.
“How can you leave such opportunity?” he asked. “It was too good to leave, so I went for the jugular.”
Central to his demands was the removal of what he described as an “insulting, abusive, exploitative” non-compete clause. According to Masisi, the clause historically prevented Botswana from capturing more than 15 percent of the potential value of its own diamonds, limiting its participation in value addition and intellectual capital development.
He used a cattle farming analogy to illustrate the imbalance: a farmer owning 100 cattle hires a skilled herdsman, but ends up entitled to only 15 of them. “Where’s the logic?” he asked.
Masisi claimed that a single Botswana mine widely regarded as the richest diamond mine in the world accounts for between 60 and 70 percent of De Beers’ net value, underscoring what he called Botswana’s leverage in negotiations.
He also demanded that future agreements be interpreted under Botswana law rather than English law, arguing that the previous arrangement deprived local legal professionals of valuable jurisprudential development. “For the sake of growth of our jurisprudence and legal practice, we were not getting that experience,” he said.
Masisi openly linked his hardline negotiation stance to his electoral defeat in 2024. “I am here having lost the elections in 2024 as an example of what can happen when you push perhaps arguably too far,” he said. “But I have no regrets.”
He suggested that while Botswana might have endured short-term economic pain had talks collapsed, De Beers would have faced existential consequences. “I even threatened that, acting on full constitutional authority, I would terminate the agreement completely,” he said, adding that such a move would have plunged Botswana into depression, “but De Beers was finished.”
He described the episode as a lesson in strategic negotiation, power dynamics and political risk. “Not that you should go and lose elections like me,” he told the audience, drawing laughter, “but you must learn from it.”
Masisi also hinted at deeper regional cooperation, referencing discussions with Namibia’s leadership about elevating diamond partnerships between the two countries. He suggested that Botswana and Namibia could, in theory, form the largest diamond entity the world has ever seen.
Throughout the lecture, Masisi framed Botswana’s diamond strategy as a deliberate political choice aimed at “derisking vulnerability” transforming a landlocked, resource-dependent state into a negotiating equal. He said he intends to document the full story in future, arguing that the lessons extend beyond Botswana.
“There are lessons to be drawn,” he said. “My posture, my strategy, pushing and successfully beating them at the negotiating table was very deliberate.”
