Mokgweetsi Masisi

Botswana
HB Antwerp nears diamond marketing deal with Gaborone

Announced last March (AI, 22/03/23), the Botswanan government's plans to [...]

DRC
Macron's new Africa adviser heads to Kinshasa

French President Emmanuel Macron's new Africa adviser Jérémie Robert is due in Kinshasa for Félix Tshisekedi's inauguration on 20 January.

Botswana
Oscar Motsumi, the rising star of Masisi's coal policy

Extraction at Botswama's main coal mine has been entrusted to a domestic consortium, again demonstrating President Mokgweetsi Masisi's desire to promote local groups in the sector.

Botswana
Gaborone pressures Lucara Diamonds to re-engage with HB Antwerp

President Mokgweetsi Masisi and his mines minister are refusing to approve the termination of a distribution partnership between the Canadian miner and the Belgian trader, in which the Botswanan state is preparing to take a 24% stake.

Southern Africa
Russian diamonds row paralyses Kimberley Process annual meeting

The annual meeting of the international certification body was split on whether or not Russian diamonds should be considered as conflict diamonds. The stalemate prevented the organisation from appointing a new secretary general and setting up its secretariat in Gaborone.

Angola, Botswana
Luanda seeks to outmanoeuvre Botswana in race for 2025 AU presidency

President João Lourenço is nurturing hopes of beating Botswana to the African Union presidency in 2025 and is already lobbying behind the scenes.

Botswana
Diamond trader HB Antwerp ditches CEO Oded Mansori

Botswana's diamond marketing partner has given the Belgian-Israeli industry veteran the boot. But the former executive of Steinmetz Diamond Group remains a shareholder.

Botswana
Gaborone bags World Bank green subsidies

President Mokgweetsi Masisi's administration is soon to receive $3.5m from the World Bank for green consultancy services.

The New Guard
Gabon, Tanzania, Nigeria, Botswana

Every Wednesday, Africa Intelligence spotlights a new generation of movers and shakers in business and politics.

GabonCyril Pellen Aubian, from sustainable development to politics

TanzaniaAmar Shanghavi, from trees to carbon

NigeriaOluseun Onigbinde, transparency first

BotswanaPako Sebetlela wants to breathe fresh life into mining sector

Botswana
President Masisi stifles debate on diamond renegotiations

As the government edges closer to clinching a new agreement with diamond giant De Beers and puts the finishing touches on its partnership deal with Belgian trader HB Antwerp, Gaborone has tended to brush off any criticism by attributing it to the opposition behind former president Ian Khama.

Botswana
Diamond trader HB Antwerp positions itself in Gaborone as alternative to De Beers

HB Antwerp is in talks with the state-owned Okavango Diamond Co over a diamond trade partnership, which the Belgian trader is hoping to show would be more profitable for the Botswana government than its arrangement with sector giant De Beers.

Botswana
Gaborone plans to disclose all firms' UBOs by mid-2023 to fight graft

The Botswana Business Registry wants the data on companies' ultimate beneficial owners (UBO) to be available online by August. With this move, Gaborone wants to show it is willing to reform after the Financial Action Task Force removed the country from its grey list in 2021.

Botswana
Masisi picks ex-ICC judge to smooth relations with Pretoria

Bostwana's President Masisi has picked former ICC judge Sanji Monageng to become the next High Commissioner to South Africa in the hope she will smooth relations with Pretoria and help enforce the arrest warrant issued against his predecessor Ian Khama.

Botswana
Danish billionaire Anders Holch Povlsen frustrated in his Okavango tourism plans

The Botswanan authorities are seeking in the public interest to oblige the potential buyer of two luxury lodges to cede 30% of the shares to local operators.