botswana: diamonds-strike coming up?

Mogae meets unions to avert diamond strike


Botswana's President Festus Mogae met union leaders on Friday to try to avert a strike threat at mines producing around a third of the world's gem diamonds by value.

A spokesman for Debswana, a joint venture between diamond giant De Beers and the Botswana government, said Mogae began talks with Botswana Mine Workers Union leaders on Friday morning. De Beers is 45-percent owned by London-listed Anglo American Plc.

Botswana's four diamond mines produce 30 million carats a year -- 70 percent of the gem diamonds marketed by De Beers.

Months of talks between the union and Debswana ended in a stalemate in mid-July and the union has threatened to strike if Debswana does not meet its demand for a 16 percent wage hike and 25 percent one-off production bonus.

Debswana says its final offer is a 10 percent rise and a 5 percent production bonus. Other mining operations in Botswana have recently settled for pay increases around 7 or 8 percent.

Mogae is due to stand for a second term in elections due later this year, when he is widely expected to win comfortably given the traditionally fractured and weak state of the opposition in a country where his Botswana Democratic Party has ruled since independence.

One of the poorest nations on earth at independence from Britain, the former Bechuanaland has won plaudits for investing its new-found diamond wealth in education and healthcare, transforming its economy into one of the most sophisticated in Africa with one of the continent's highest per capita incomes.

Diamonds account for 80 percent of the country's export earnings, 35 percent of gross domestic product and half government revenues.