Diamond Nation: Surprise Defeat Ends 58-Year Rule
November 01, 24
(IDEX Online) - Botswana's President Mokgweetsi Masisi today (1 November) conceded defeat in the general election, ending 58 years of uninterrupted rule by the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP).
The opposition coalition Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) swept to surprise victory in the world's second biggest diamond-producing nation.
Its leader Duma Boko (pictured), a Harvard-educated human rights lawyer, is now on track to become the country's next president.
One of the biggest issues for the new government will be diamonds - and how to diversify its economy beyond the resource that has helped it to become one of Africa's wealthiest nations.
The global downturn has had a devastating effect on Botswana's diamond-based economy. On the eve of the election Botswana's central bank announced that sales by Debswana - the joint venture between De Beers and the Botswana government - were down by 52 per cent in the first three quarters of 2024.
Botswana currently has unemployment running at 27 per cent and economic growth projected by the IMF at just 1 per cent this year, compared to 5.5 per cent in 2022.
Diamonds account for around 80 per cent of Botswana's export earnings and drive the economy of a south African nation that discovered diamonds (at Orapa) just six months after it gained independence from Britain in 1966.