Washington, DC — When Festus Mogae died in early May, the world lost a global statesman and I lost a beloved friend of more than 40 years.
The Oxford- trained economist was a dedicated democrat, committed feminist and visionary leader who successfully shepherded Botswana through the HI/AIDS crisis. But the magic of Festus was his integration of those talents and traits into a soft-spoken powerhouse who was instrumental in piloting a small, newly independent southern Africa country from dire poverty at its 1966 independence to prosperity as the strongest democracy and most resilient economy on the continent 60 years later.
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Integral to Festus’s magic was his ability to forge strategic alliances and partnerships. From my perspective, Festus’s lauded contributions in democracy-building, combatting HIV/AIDS and strengthening economic development were further advanced by a unique partnership between Festus and diamond merchant Maurice Tempelsman, Chairman of the Board of Directors and CEO of the American diamond company Lazare Kaplan International Inc (LKI), that spanned at least three decades and delivered tangible sustainable development to the people of Botswana.
I first met Festus in 1985 in Botswana when the National Democratic Institute was convening its “Democracies in Regions of Crisis” series. We delighted in celebrated Botswana’s multi-party democracy, with its two robust parties and fierce electoral competition. Our friendship grew when, in 1989, Festus was appointed Minister of Finance and Development Planning and I became president of the then-African-American Institute (AAI), a leading policy and anti-apartheid non-profit known for its annual conferences which alternated between African capitals and New York. Maurice Tempelsman was chairman of AAI’s board.
Over the next four decades, Festus and I strategized on issues from apartheid to corruption to HIV/AIDS to women’s political participation to the importance of adding value to one of Botswana’s main resources, its diamonds.
Botswana has the highest concentration of gem-quality diamonds in the world, a wealth early shared with Debeers through the De Beers Botswana Mining Company (Debswana), established in 1968. Festus, working as the Director of Economic Affairs in the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning at the time, immediately understood the seminal importance of the diamond resource. Concerned that merely exporting rough diamonds would not build a viable, diversified economy, Festus championed beneficiation, the process which would transition the industry from extraction-only to local cutting, polishing, aggregation and sales.
His partnerships and his magic – still an enduring inspiration and a hard act to follow.
So in 1990, when Maurice’s firm, LKI, was granted a license by the government of Botswana to build and operate a cutting factory, Festus saw the crucial first step toward beneficiation.
Maurice was also interested in beneficiation, aware of its benefits to LKI’s bottom line as it reduced production costs, increased sales, expanded employment opportunities for locals and strengthened democratic values.
Sharing similar interests and goals, Festus and Maurice became trusted colleagues, collaborating on a host of economic and political issues. For example, in 2008, when Botswana was negotiating a $250 million deal with OPIC and needed a guarantor to access international credit, Maurice stepped up as the guarantor the U.S. required. When the HIV/AIDS crisis enveloped southern Africa and Festus led the clarion call to the international community for assistance and confronted the stigma issue head-on, he and Maurice collaborated once more, adding the HIV/AIDS challenge to their respective portfolios.
In 2000, when Bill Gates, Merck & Co. (USA) chairman Raymond Gilmartin and Maurice were on a plane returning from the World Economic Forum in Davos, they brainstormed about a new HIV/AIDS initiative they would jointly support. When they wondered where it should be located Maurice immediately suggested Botswana. He cited the stable democracy with disciplined economic stewardship and a strong commitment to fighting the pandemic, ably led by his friend, President Festus Mogae.
The African Comprehensive HIV/AIDS Partnership (ACHAP) that grew out of the in-flight discussion now operates as a Botswana-led NGO renowned for its research and innovative approaches to care and treatment. Festus continued his HIV/AIDS advocacy well into retirement,
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One afternoon in 2008, after he had won the Mo Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership, Festus and I fell into one of our democracy discussions, stressing the importance of good fiscal management, especially with a finite resource like diamonds. I teased him, showing him my Botswana diamond-wedding ring purchased through LKI and personally inspected by Maurice. He smiled and, with his trademark dry wit, thanked me for contributing to Botswana’s sustainable development.
The next year, 2009, when Festus was a Visiting Fellow at Boston University and I was an Advanced Leadership Initiative Fellow at Harvard, we had another of our unflinching assessments of the continent and concluded that we still had a lot of work to do.
In 2011, Festus joined the Board of the Bridges Institute, the non-profit I launched to help strengthen African governance and democracy. Festus served as an insightful board member for 12 years. Today, the challenges to the continent remain Herculean. Festus, his partnerships and his magic, are still an enduring inspiration and a hard act to follow.
