Johannesburg – A top South African court on Friday granted UN experts a role in proceedings against mining giant Anglo American, which is being sued for alleged lead poisoning in Zambia.
Decades of lead mining have left Kabwe, around 150KM (95 miles) north of the Zambian capital Lusaka, severely polluted, with serious health impacts on residents.
A lawsuit filed in 2020 in South Africa accuses the South African subsidiary of Anglo American of poisoning thousands of people in Kabwe.
Three UN special rapporteurs – on toxics and human rights, extreme poverty, and persons with disability – will now be admitted to the legal proceedings.
Two UN working groups – one on discrimination against women and girls, and the other on business and human rights – also secured a role in the case as “friends of the court”.
Anglo American’s spokesman in South Africa told AFP the company had noted the court’s decision.
Amnesty International experts had also been brought on board earlier this year, he said, “which we consented to in line with the interests of justice”.
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Two years ago, a group of 13 Zambian women and children filed the suit against Anglo American, alleging its lead operations in Kabwe caused widespread poisoning.
They approached a high court in South Africa on behalf of a group estimated to include more than 100,000 individuals in Kabwe who are believed to be victims of the poisoning.
No date has been set for the start of the hearing in which the victims are seeking compensation, blood lead screening and a clean-up of the affected area.
The Kabwe mine was part of Anglo American from 1925 to 1974, a period during which experts say two-thirds of the lead currently in the local environment was likely to have been deposited.
It was then run by the Zambian government when the mining industry was nationalised, until its closure in 1994.
The Anglo American spokesman said the firm believed that “any liability in relation to the Kabwe site belongs elsewhere –- with the actual owners and operators of the site, those who operated the site to ever deteriorating standards post nationalisation 50 years ago”.
The company was “confident” that, should the claim proceed, “common sense will prevail”, he added.
Human Rights Watch raised the alarm in 2019 about a public health “emergency”, claiming children living in the town are still exposed to high levels of toxicity almost 30 years after the mine had closed.
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Source: AFP
Picture: Pixabay
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