Peter D. Regis - South Africa

This is taken from unknown newspaper/journal.
It was sent to me by Peter D. Regis in 1998.


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UNKNOWN NEWSPAPER/JOURNAL

Diamond industry big in South Africa

by Peter Regis


Editor's Note: The following is the last in a series of stories on a most interesting trip to South Africa by Peter Regis, of Jupiter. Regis is a writer-lecturer and retired Lt. Colonel of the U.S. Army. The series provides an inside look at the uniquely different culture of the South Africa region.


The last leg of my visit to South Africa took me to Cape Town, 45 minutes by air from George. Normally, such a trip would take more time, but South African Airlines pilots seldom indulge themselves the luxury of long, slow decents in preparation for a landing. They drop to landing levels in a matter of seconds and touch-down with a minimum fuss or delay. The first stop on my agenda was Allied Diamond Cutters, arranged for my [me?] by Roger Murray of Kynsna. The firm was located on the second floor of an unpretentious building at the edge of town, its business sign almost concealed behind a large door at street level.

I fingered the button beside [... - missing text] was opened by an unsmiling man, behind a telescoping steel gate. He inquired my business and walked away without a word. Moments later, John Stoeke, one of the firm's two partners, appeared, and not until he had satisfied himself as to my identity did he admit me.

"We are obliged to take extreme security measures in this business," Stoeke explained. At his desk he recounted the murder in 1975 of Louis Ziszovits, one of the trade's well-known personalities. "Louis was carrying hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of cut diamonds when he was killed in Antwerp. His face was completely disfigured by acid."

Victor Eiserman, Sto[e]ke's partner of 31 years, joined the discussion and declared that Allied Cutters sold diamonds only to wholesalers. "In this industry," he said, "all deals are made in dollars, but the payoff is made in the currency of the land. In South Africa's Rands."

Every few weeks, Stoeke, as the firm's licensee, responds to a Kimberly invitation to view a "sight" -- a packaged quota of uncut diamonds prepared for Allied by the BeBeers Diamond Mining Company. "We pay for the stones in advance," said Stoeke, "and take delivery a few days later in Cape Town. In South Africa one may literally walk about freely with a pocket full of cut diamonds, but row stock may only be possessed by properly licensed individuals."

From an office safe Stoeke [... - missing text] them looked like a pair of four-sided pyramids joined at the base. "This is their natural state," he pointed out. "We get about 45 percent from the rough for a finished diamond. In our shop, most of our production is the round -- or brilliant -- diamonds."

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