“Ecocidal and Genocidal”
By Francis Maingaila
Lusaka, Zambia24 - (25 April 2025) – Youth activists and environmental justice advocates have issued a blistering condemnation of Zambia’s mining industry, accusing it of committing “ecocide and genocide” through unchecked pollution, community exploitation, and regulatory impunity.
The rebuke comes in the aftermath of a high-level public lecture held at the University of Zambia, where stakeholders exposed the devastating cost of the country’s mineral wealth on people and the environment.
Organised by Youth4Climate Justice in partnership with ActionAid Zambia, the lecture brought together youth-led organisations, academics, government officials, and affected community representatives under the theme “Examining Zambia’s Economic Growth Through the Mining Sector vis-à-vis Environmental Sustainability.”
At the heart of the communiqué issued by the participants is a damning indictment: Zambia’s mining practices are destroying lives, ecosystems, and futures — with little consequence.
While participants acknowledged the mining sector as vital to Zambia’s economy — contributing to jobs, exports, and GDP — they emphasised the urgent need to harmonise economic growth with environmental protection and community rights.
Stakeholders cited the February 2025 chemical spill into the Kafue River as a glaring example of the mining sector’s destructive footprint.
A biomonitoring study presented at the event confirmed heavy metal contamination, diseased fish, and potential threats to human health — all linked to acid effluents discharged by a mining operation.
“This is not an accident. This is a crime,” said Sitwala Lipalile, Movement Manager for Youth4Climate Justice.
“Mining companies are poisoning our rivers, our food, our children — and walking away scot-free. How long will we call it development when it’s killing us?”
Communities along the Kafue have been left to deal with the consequences: undrinkable water, collapsed fisheries, and rising health concerns.
Yet, there has been no public apology, no remediation, and no accountability from the companies responsible.
The communiqué drew chilling parallels between the Kafue disaster and a long history of mining-linked tragedies: the 2006 KCM acid spill in Chingola, ongoing air and water contamination in Mufulira and Kabwe, and displacement in Solwezi and Luanshya.
Participants accused mining companies of profiteering at the expense of human lives, enabled by weak regulatory institutions and political inertia.
“Zambia’s mining sector has operated with impunity for decades,” the statement read.
“It is no longer a question of poor oversight. It is a system built on environmental violence and sacrifice zones.”
Despite the existence of progressive environmental legislation — including the Environmental Management Act (2011) and the Mines and Minerals Development Act (2011) — participants lamented that enforcement remains poor due to chronic underfunding, institutional dysfunction, and political interference.
“The law is only as strong as its enforcers — and ours have been subdued,” Lipalile stated. “We need to stop pretending that Zambia is a rule-of-law state when it comes to mining. Right now, we’re a playground for ecological destruction.”
Affected communities, they argued, continue to suffer from mining-related pollution, poverty, and poor benefit-sharing. Companies such as Sino Metals were singled out and urged to pay reparations for the environmental harm and loss suffered by communities.
Stakeholders insisted that corporate accountability and legal compliance must be non-negotiable, including the remediation of damage already caused.
“We demand reparations for every poisoned river, every dead crop, every child who falls sick because of mining waste,” Lipalile declared. “Corporate accountability is not a plea — it’s a demand.”
They further noted that communities are often excluded from mining decisions, and public awareness of environmental rights remains dangerously low.
The youths not only recommended an overhaul of Zambia’s mining governance framework but also demanded the immediate enforcement of existing environmental and mining laws.
Reading from the same statement, Valepi Banda, representing Youth for Climate Justice as the Programs Lead, called for institutionalising biomonitoring and community environmental audits, promoting corporate transparency, developing value-addition strategies, ensuring equitable revenue-sharing mechanisms, and empowering youth through education and advocacy.
Other proposals included ensuring policy coherence among ministries, using digital platforms for environmental advocacy, adopting stricter waste and water management standards, and aligning national policies with international environmental and human rights frameworks.
“We are not just resisting environmental destruction,” said Banda.
“We are offering a vision — one that centres environmental justice, youth leadership, and inclusive development.”
Participants called on all stakeholders — from government to civil society and the private sector — to act decisively and ensure that Zambia’s economic development does not compromise the country’s ecological integrity or the well-being of its people.
Comments
Post a Comment