Diamonds Bolster Botswana's Economy
JWANENG, Botswana — The sand sheets, short hills and wind-blown dunes of the Kalahari Desert seem to foreshadow unending economic desolation for the people of Botswana.
But amid that desolation, a monstrous gray-and-brown gash sinks like a scar through the desert floor--a man-made canyon jammed with diamonds that has helped transform Botswana from one of the world's poorest countries to one of Africa's most prosperous.
Roughly every third diamond on the $6-billion world market comes from this France-sized country of just 1.5 million people.
In many parts of Africa, diamonds fuel brutal conflicts. In Botswana, they have been nothing but a salvation since they were discovered 33 years ago. The economy has soared. Average salaries have risen from the depths of poverty to livable standards. The education and health care systems have become the envy of the developing world.
Revenue Supports Schools, Roads
"Every school and every road and every post office that you see in this country is paid for by diamond revenue," said Louis Nchindo, the managing director of Debswana, the company that controls the diamond trade here. "Everything you see here in the way of development has been due to diamonds."
While many African cities are caldrons of urban poverty, few beggars sit on the smooth streets of Gaborone, Botswana's capital. Construction cranes line a horizon dotted with office parks and shopping centers. Parking lots are filled with shiny cars.
The ethnic fighting that has wounded much of Africa was never a problem in Botswana, whose people are all ethnic Tswanas. As repeated coups shook some neighboring countries and oppressive dictatorships stifled others, Botswana maintained a stable democracy--albeit one dominated by a single party.
Botswana is by no means trouble-free. Its HIV-infection rate is estimated to be the highest in the world. Unemployment is estimated to be at least 20%, and according to figures from 1993--the latest available--47% of the people live below the poverty line.
Still, the country is one of the brightest spots on the world's poorest continent.
"Compared to the region that we're in, we're clearly doing very well," said Keith Jefferis, deputy governor of the Bank of Botswana.
When Botswana gained its independence from Britain in 1966, the country was an economic basket case of deserts and sporadic cattle farms. The next year, diamonds were discovered at Orapa and Letlhakane and in 1972, prospectors found more at what would become the Jwaneng mine.
