Small Scale Artisanal Diamond Mining and Rural Livelihood Diversification in Lesotho by Esther L ...

238 Pages·2017·2.24 MB·English

Small Scale Artisanal Diamond Mining and Rural Livelihood

Diversification in Lesotho

by

Esther L Makhetha

A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree

PhD Humanities

in the Department of Anthropology and Archaeology at the

UNIVERSITY OF PRETORIA

FACULTY OF HUMANITIES

SUPERVISOR: Dr Detlev Krige

October 2016

© University of Pretoria
Abstract
This thesis examines how individuals and households of Kao and Liqhobong villages
in Lesotho responded to economic challenges resulting from, amongst other factors,
the implementation of structural adjustment policies; a decline in work opportunities
for Basotho migrants in South Africa; the wider collapse of the regional mining

complex, and; continued failure in developing agricultural production. More

specifically, the study focuses on individuals and households implicated in

unrecognised and unlicensed artisanal diamond mining and who use such mining, in

the midst of these economic challenges, as a supplementary means of income or

livelihood diversification. Artisanal diamond mining in Lesotho is a livelihood for rural

households that is masked by the dominant representation of Lesotho as a labour

reserve. Making use of the ‘moral economy’ and ‘human economy’ approaches, the

thesis explores how artisanal miners in Lesotho engage in diamond digging and
selling. It also investigates the constraints they face in a sector that was heavily
regulated historically and remains so in post-independence Lesotho, a state which is
itself constrained by a regional and global context that makes it difficult to raise the
living standards of its citizens. In order to understand the responses of individuals

and households in the implicated villages, the thesis combines an historical with an

ethnographic approach. As such it examines the conditions artisanal diamond miners

have operated under from the 1950s to 2014 when fieldwork for this thesis was

conducted. It looks at how artisanal miners and artisanal mining collectives with their

own moral economies negotiated the contestation over natural resources with the

Lesotho state and international commercial mining companies. In doing so it

investigates how the artisanal miners positioned themselves in relation to the law;

claims to ownership over land; the international market for diamonds; and society. As

an economic activity artisanal diamond mining is viewed in relation to the larger
social processes in which it is embedded and from which it derives meaning. As
such this thesis tells a story of conflict, violence and resistance; a story that remains
pertinent, given the current debates about economic democracy in contexts of
natural resource wealth. In my analysis, I pay particular attention to the role of

women in ASM in Lesotho.

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Key words:

Artisanal Diamond Mining, Lesotho, Rural Livelihoods Diversification, Gender,

Human Economy, Moral Economy, Economic Democracy, Development,

Ethnography, Anthropology at Home.

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Acknowledgements

I would like to thank my PhD supervisor, Dr Detlev Krige, for his encouragement,

guidance and support in writing this thesis. Dr Krige was patient with me, a new

arrival in the field of Anthropology and Development Studies, having graduated in the

natural sciences. I am also thankful to the Human Economy Programme which has

supported my study, financially and in other ways, through the University of Pretoria
and the Mellon Foundation. I would like to extend my gratitude to the two directors of
the Human Economy Programme, Prof. Keith Hart and Prof. John Sharp who guided
and inspired me in the completion of my PhD studies.

I would like to extend my heartfelt gratitude to the artisanal diamond miners and

villagers of Kao and Liqhobong who participated in this study and also allowed me

into their homes. I also wish to thank everyone I encountered during my fieldwork in

the highlands of Lesotho, Butha-Buthe District and the capital, Maseru.

I am grateful to my friends and colleagues, Prof Ngwane, Prof Vasavi, Bitso, Molefi

Thobileng, Sean, Booker, Busani, Numvi, Jose, Vito, Marina, Mamofana, Celie, and

Thembi, for your support and reading my drafts. I thank my family members for their

support and I dedicate this thesis to my sister Mpho, my nephews and nieces

Ramoloi, Marethabile, Pakiso, Mantai, Puleng, Makie and Tsebo, and ausi Mots’elisi.

Thanks for the love and encouragement you have shown me in the completion of
this thesis. Gift, your support and encouragement are highly appreciated – I will
never forget you. May the good God richly bless you all for the contributions you
have made to this research.

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List of Acronyms and Abbreviations

ABC All-Basotho Convention

AGOA African Growth and Opportunity Act

ANC African National Congress

ASM Artisanal and Small-scale Mining

BAFED Basutoland Factory and Estate Development Corporation

BCP Basutoland/Basotho Congress Party

BDC Basutoland Diamond Corporation

BNLS Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, Swaziland

BNP Basutoland/Basotho National Party

CBL Central Bank of Lesotho

CDP Compulsory Deferred Pay

CIDA Canadian International Development Agency

CUC Custom Union Convention

DC Democratic Congress

EU European Union

FDI Foreign Direct Investment

GDP Gross Domestic Product

GOL Government of Lesotho

IEC Independent Electoral Commission

ILO International Labour Organisation

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IMF International Monetary Fund

KDM Kao Diamond Mine

KP Kimberley Process

KPCS Kimberley Process Certification Scheme

LAC Lesotho Airways Corporation

LCD Lesotho Congress for Democracy

LFM Lesotho Flour Mills

LHWP Lesotho Highlands Water Project

LLA Lesotho Liberation Army

LNDC Lesotho National Development Corporation

LDMC Liqhobong Diamond Mine Cooperative

MFP Marematlou Freedom Party

PEMS Paris Evangelical Missionary Society

PPP Public-Private Sector Participation

PWV Pretoria-Witwatersrand-Vereeniging

SACU Southern African Customs Union

SADC Southern African Development Community

SAP Structural Adjustment Programme

SARW Southern African Resource Watch

SIDA Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency

TRC Transformation Resource Centre

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UK United Kingdom

UN United Nations

US United States

USAID United States Agency for International Development

WB World Bank

WDC World Diamond Council

WTO World Trade Organisation

WWII World War II

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LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................... 10
LIST OF TABLES ..................................................................................................... 11
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION AND RESEARCH METHODS ............................... 12
1.1 Background and problem statement ............................................................... 12

1.2 Research methodology ................................................................................... 26

1.3 Ethical considerations ..................................................................................... 34

1.4 Thesis outline .................................................................................................. 35

CHAPTER 2: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK AND LITERATURE REVIEW ........... 38

2.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................... 38

2.2 Literature review ............................................................................................. 38

2.3 Theoretical framework..................................................................................... 55

2.4 Summary ......................................................................................................... 60

CHAPTER 3: LESOTHO POLITICAL ECONOMY: INDEPENDENCE TO THE
PRESENT ................................................................................................................ 62
3.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................... 62

3.2 Macro-economic considerations ..................................................................... 62

3.3 Independence, transition and authoritarianism: BNP rule, 1966-1986 ............ 73

3.4 Neoliberalism and ‘democracy’ after independence (1986-2012) ................... 80

3.5 Summary ......................................................................................................... 87

CHAPTER 4: LIVELIHOOD DIVERSIFICATION IN KAO AND LIQHOBONG

HOUSEHOLDS ........................................................................................................ 88
4.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................... 88
4.2 Centres of contemporary mining ..................................................................... 88
4.3 Sources of income ........ .................................................................................. 98
4.4 Summary ....................................................................................................... 115
CHAPTER 5: KAO AND LIQHOBONG: CENTRES OF CONTEMPORARY

ARTISANAL DIAMOND MINING ........................................................................... 116

5.1 Introduction ................................................................................................... 116

5.2 Role of artisanal diamond mining in local economies of Kao and Liqhobong 118

5.3 Role of commercial diamond mining in local economies ............................... 120

5.4 Informal and unlicensed artisanal diamond mining in contemporary Lesotho 121

5.6 Linguistic terms used in unlicensed artisanal diamond mining ...................... 125
5.7 Trade in diamonds: How artisanal miners sell diamonds and what determines
prices .................................................................................................................. 128

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5.8 Borders and legality: Diamond dealing as a global trade .............................. 131
5.9 Uses of mining income .................................................................................. 136
5.10 Summary ..................................................................................................... 137
CHAPTER 6: COMMERCIAL DIAMOND MINING – DISCOVERY, REGULATION

AND DEVELOPMENT ............................................................................................ 139

6.1 Introduction ................................................................................................... 139

6.2 Early diamond mining in South Africa ........................................................... 139

6.3 Emergence of commercial diamond mining in South Africa .......................... 141

6.4 Discovery of diamonds in Lesotho ................................................................ 143

6.5 Diamond mining in colonial Lesotho ............................................................. 144
6.6 Diamond mining in post-independence Lesotho ........................................... 146
6.7 Lesotho’s regulatory framework for diamond mining ..................................... 149
6.8 Kimberley Process ........................................................................................ 154
6.9 Summary ....................................................................................................... 159
CHAPTER 7: COMMERCIAL VERSUS ARTISANAL MINING IN LESOTHO –

CONFLICT, VIOLENCE AND RESISTANCE ......................................................... 161

7.1 Introduction ................................................................................................... 161

7.2 The Basutoland Diamonds Corporation in Kao: The Foxes and resistance .. 162

7.3 Liqhobong Diamond Mine Cooperative: Formation and closure ................... 166

7.4 Responses by artisanal diamond miners to commercialisation and
incorporation in Liqhobong and Kao ................................................................... 172
7.5 Legal battle ................................................................................................... 176
7.6 Summary ....................................................................................................... 185

CHAPTER 8: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS ................................... 187

8.1 Artisanal Diamond Mining, Gender and the Human Economy ...................... 187

8.2 Historical and contemporary context of diamond mining in Lesotho ............. 194

8.3 A Distinctive Moral Economy among Artisanal Miners? ................................ 198

8.4 Political Environment and Economic Reform ................................................ 204

8.5 Land and Environmental Change .................................................................. 205

8.6 Institutional and Regulatory Framework ........................................................ 207

8.7 Issues of Further Research and Recommendation ....................................... 209

LIST OF REFERENCES ........................................................................................ 212

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LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 4. 1 Maps of Lesotho showing mining sites. .................................................. 90

Figure 4. 2 Kao (Ha Shishila) village. ....................................................................... 94

Figure 4. 3 Pulane sub-village of Liqhobong ............................................................ 97

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