Prof Francis K Makoa

Political Economy of the Lesotho Diamond Mining Prof Francis K Makoa

This book offers a glimpse of the political economy of Lesotho's diamond mining industry with a focus on its drivers - forces and/or groups involved in the diamond mining or extraction process, together with the nature of their interactions and relationships; and the mining's socio-economic and environmental consequences for the country and its people, and politics. In order to elucidate these, it sketches and examines the institutional/legal and policy setting of the diamond mining process at it various stages, and the roles played by both the state and the local communities. It also looks at the modes of extracting or producing the diamonds and the exchanges and transactions thereon taking place between the interested groups, that is, the marketing or buying and sale of the diamonds and the nature and/or type of the arrangement or regime facilitating such transactions. A historical background is provided to show the limits of the study and in order to contextualize the arguments and issues that are addressed in the book. Political economy is also used here. I thank Professor Tefetso Mothibe for proof reading the draft manuscript and making appropriate corrections.