By Seleoe Nonyane
Centre for Accounting Studies (CAS) students believe more investment in the processing of diamonds could elevate Lesotho to become the best producer in the world.
This emerged during the Standard Lesotho Bank (SLB) national youth dialogue by six tertiary institutions namely, Botho University (BU), National University of Lesotho (NUL), CAS, Lesotho College of Education (LCE), Lerotholi Polytechnic (Fokothi) and Limkokwing University of Creative Technology (LUCT) on Wednesday this week.
Competing for a share of M100 000 worth of prices, the institutions pitched their ideas before a judging panel on the topic “How can Lesotho go from being an import-dependent economy to a self-sufficient one?”
CAS came out tops and walked away with M40 000. Their two participants received M8 000 each.
NUL went home M30 000 richer for being runners-up, with their two participants getting M5 000 each. In third place was LUCT, which won a 25 Gigabyte for three months per participant.
In fourth, fifth and sixth places were Fokothi, LCE and BU respectively. Each participant received M500.
Mpeoane Mahase from CAS said tapping into the mining industry can drive growth and youth employment due to the country’s abundance of natural resources.
She noted that Lesotho is rich in natural resources such as diamond deposits and water. The latter is commonly referred to as the white gold of the country.
According to Mahase, Lesotho is currently among the top 10 producers of diamonds globally, contributing M5.1 billion towards the country’s Gross Domestic Product.
She stated that the country lies with a two-fold challenge: a deficit exists in the higher education curricula not tailored for the efficient utilisation of the diamonds the country possesses, which means that Lesotho cannot enjoy the wealth of the mineral to its full capacity.
“This is because we lack the processing skills for diamonds and we export this mineral as raw as it is, only to import it back at significantly higher prices.
“This shows that our curriculum is non-responsive to the needs that we have as a nation,” Mahase pointed out.
She said country needs to reduce heavy reliance on primary stages of production, and to transition more into the secondary and tertiary stages of production, which she referred to as diversification.
Her CAS team member, Serutle Kekane advised Lesotho to start investing in an educational system that is in alignment with the country’s natural resources.
Kekane proposed the establishment of a diamond and technology hub so that Lesotho not only relies on the primary stage of production.
“This will help Lesotho to delve into the secondary and tertiary stages of production, namely the processing and polishing of diamonds. This way the diamonds cannot be exported raw but we will rather be able to model them into other products that a diamond can produce.
“This would also create employment for the youth. On the issue of sustainability, I propose that Lesotho starts investing in the production of synthetic diamond technology. This is the new direction that the country needs to take, and the time to invest is now.
“Studies have indicated that by the year 2050, we will have a depletion of natural resources so, when making this investment we should consider the significance of sustainability. The synthetic diamonds, with their chemical and physical structure, will be identical to natural diamonds,” he said.
Speaking at the same occasion, SLB head of personal banking Teboho Sello said this initiative was birthed as a result of critical challenges that the youth face such as unemployment.
Sello said the organisation has a special portfolio that specifically focuses on clients such as the youth.
This, he indicated, is done to ensure that SLB delivers value to the most important fibre of Lesotho’s population – the youth.
