Lab-grown diamonds are robbing southern Africa of riches

BOTSWANA and southern African peers that built much of their prosperity on diamonds are scrambling for alternatives as cheaper, lab-grown stones threaten their economies.

- AFP

Diamond-dependent Botswana is leading the way and launched a sovereign wealth fund this week to lay the “foundation for a more resilient, sustainable and diversified future beyond diamonds”.

It is exploring other avenues too, like boosting luxury wildlife tourism, launching into the medicinal cannabis market and exploiting its abundant sunshine for solar power.

President Duma Boko has even mooted taking a majority stake in industry giant De Beers and selling Botswana's diamonds independently.

“Countries such as Angola, Namibia and South Africa are all exposed but not to the same degree as Botswana,” economist Brendon Verster at the Oxford Economics Africa think tank told AFP.

The stones are the country’s main source of income and account for about 30% of its gross domestic product (GDP) and 80% of its exports, according to the International Monetary Fund.