Zambia: Clean Up Lead Contamination in Kabwe

(Johannesburg, July 20, 2023) – The Zambian government should make comprehensive efforts to clean up the contaminated former lead mine in Kabwe, the capital of Zambia’s Central province, Environment Africa and Human Rights Watch said today. The organizations released a video in which youth activists from Environment Africa describe life in a dangerously polluted town and actions needed to remedy the situation.

Kabwe is one of the worst pollution hot spots in Africa because of contamination from a former lead and zinc mine. The mine was originally owned directly or indirectly by Anglo-American and other British colonial companies, later nationalized, and closed in 1994. But the mine’s toxic waste was never cleaned up. As a result, lead dust from its large uncovered waste dumps blows over to nearby residential areas such as Chowa, Kasanda, and Makululu, putting the health of 200,000 people at risk.