An appeal hearing commenced on Monday in South Africa’s Supreme Court of Appeal, addressing whether a subsidiary of British mining giant Anglo American PLC bears responsibility for decades-long lead poisoning that allegedly affected approximately 140,000 individuals in Zambia. The class action lawsuit, brought by women and children, seeks to overturn a 2023 lower court ruling that dismissed their case against Anglo American South Africa. The plaintiffs argue that a mine in Kabwe, Zambia, which Anglo American South Africa was involved with from 1925 to 1974, caused severe environmental and health damage, poisoning generations of local residents. The lower court had dismissed the case, citing insufficient initial evidence and deeming it ‘an unmanageable class action’ due to the need for each of the 140,000 claimants to individually prove illness caused by lead poisoning. The judge estimated that consulting all claimants could take up to a decade. Kabwe, one of the world’s most polluted areas, was highlighted in a 2022 UN report as a region permanently scarred by mining activities. A 2023 Human Rights Watch report revealed soil lead contamination levels of 60,000 milligrams per kilogram in Kabwe, far exceeding the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s hazardous threshold of 200 milligrams per kilogram. Medical studies supported by Amnesty International indicate that Kabwe’s children exhibit record-high lead levels in their blood, which can cause irreversible damage to internal organs, including the brain. While Anglo American acknowledges severe contamination in Kabwe, it denies liability, stating it only held a minority stake in the Zambian company operating the mine and attributes the pollution to other parties. This case follows another recent mining disaster in Zambia, where a Chinese company was accused of concealing a toxic spill that contaminated a major river, impacting millions reliant on it for drinking water and irrigation.
Mining giant Anglo American faces class action appeal over alleged lead poisoning in Zambia
