Diamond breakup: Namibia told to dump De Beers

Economist Robin Sherbourne has advised Namibia to consider buying out Namdeb and selling its high-quality natural diamonds independently of the De Beers system.

He said this while giving a talk on the state of the Namibian economy in Windhoek on Tuesday.

Namdeb (Namibia De Beers), the country’s largest diamond producer, is co-owned by the government and international conglomerate De Beers.

The company paid the government N$1.32 billion in royalties, corporate tax and export levies in 2025.