Between 3-4 November 2025, the South African Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) in South Africa heard a certification appeal in the case of Kabwe and Others v Anglo American South Africa.
The court heard that over 100,000 people affected by lead poisoning in Kabwe could not access justice for the harms they have endured for over 50 years unless the class action is certified, meaning it can proceed to a full trial where all the evidence is examined.
Following an initial hearing in 2023, where the certification was refused, the representatives for the Kabwe residents needed to demonstrate that they have a triable case against Anglo American on the key issues. These include that Anglo knew about the dangers to local community and knew or should have known about the dangers to future community and that it failed to prevent the pollution or clean it up. Responding to these points, the representatives argued that Anglo was negligent on at least five different grounds; and that the assessment for certification should not be treated as a ‘mini-trial’, because such an approach only serves the interest of the more powerful party: Anglo American.
Kate Hofmeyr SC, representing the UN Special Rapporteurs and Procedures (UN Amici) argued that Anglo’s resistance to the class action is in direct contradiction with its commitments under the UN Guiding Principles on Business & Human Rights and its own policies.
Anglo continues to argue that the harms to current generations of Kabwe residents were not reasonably foreseeable due to the lax or absent lead pollution standards of the day and that blame for the lead poisoning belongs to a Zambian company, ZCCM, who took over the mine for 10 years in 1974.
Matthew Chaskalson SC, arguing for the Appellants, challenged Anglo’s reasons why it was not responsible, saying “If you establish the risk is material, children are being poisoned, dying, you investigate. You put in place measures to ensure you don’t compound the problem; you clean up toxic mess you created. Anglo failed to discharge these obligations; as a result, today’s Kabwe community has been left with a poisonous legacy.”
Mother and Kabwe community advocate Lydia Moyo said:
“Every day, we worry for our children’s health and their future due to lead poisoning. 50 years since Anglo left and all these years they have met our requests for a clean-up with a wall of silence while generations of our children fall sick. This class-action is now our only means of making Kabwe liveable again, so our children can thrive and our crops grow.”
ACTSA Honorary President Chi Onwurah said:
“The environmental and public health disaster in Kabwe – where 95% of children have elevated blood lead levels – cannot be understood without the colonial context that allowed it. This has to now be put right by those responsible, particularly as the critical minerals race risks many more such disasters unless companies start to respect human and environmental rights.”
Director of Action for Southern Africa (ACTSA) Tricia Sibbons said:
“While this case is presented by Anglo American as ‘not us’, the evidence shows that the company spent 50 years in Kabwe extracting vast amounts of lead and is responsible for most of the 6.4 million tons of lead-bearing waste left when the mine closed. If Anglo is so confident that it is not responsible, all the more reason for this to go to trial so all the facts can be heard and justice served. There is ample evidence Anglo knew exactly what harm was being caused and ignored the lives of local Zambian people. This was an act of colonial racism and environmental harm on a massive scale”.