Secretive deal: Botswana says no to the unveiling of agreement details with Debswana

Botswana’s minerals department has reportedly ignored the office of the auditor general’s request to have access to the mining agreement between Gaborone and mining companies such as Debswana, according to local media reports.
Debswana is a joint venture between De Beers and the Botswana government.
“The failure to avail the Debswana mining company’s terms of operation made it difficult to understand the responsibilities and obligations of the contracting parties,” Botswana auditor general Pulane Letebele was quoted by the Sunday Standard as saying.
She said that Debswana’s mining licences were provided to her office without terms and conditions of operation, whereas other diamond mining companies’ mining licences together with their terms and conditions of operation were availed.
“The mining agreement with Debswana was not availed to me as it was considered confidential,” she said.
“This was said to be the case for companies in partnership with the Government of Botswana…They further indicated that it was common practice for such agreements to be confidential and it should be noted that although the agreements were confidential, key terms of the agreements were publicised.”

Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau in Luanda, Angola, Rough&Polished