A Kabwe medical doctor has filed an affidavit in the Zambian High Court in which he claims that Anglo American had been aware of lead poisoning at its mine. Photo: Rodrigo Garrido/Reuters
A medical doctor who worked in Kabwe, Zambia has claimed in an affidavit that Anglo American South Africa had been aware of lead poisining at its mine as early as 1970.
Dr Ian Lawrence, who was stationed where Anglo operated the world’s largest lead mine in the 1970s, said in an affidavit that the company was aware of lead poisoning to their employees as blood levels of staff were checked regularly.
Lawrence said that there had been a high number of deaths among children under the age of five years in the township housing mine employees.
“I became deeply concerned at the number of deaths among children under the age of five in the residential township where local employees lived (the township), particularly children between one and three years old,” Lawrence said.
The class action was filed on behalf of the victims by Johannesburg and London-based human rights legal firms Mbuyisa Moleele and Leigh Day in October last year at the Gauteng Division of the High Court of South Africa.
Lawrence said that he took samples of blood of 500 children under the age of five who visited the township’s clinic between 1969 and 1970 and found many of the results were serious enough to cause brain damage and even death.
“I do not think the fumes were a major contribution to the problem, I believe rather that dust from the plant and underground contaminants were a major source of the pollution,” Lawrence said.
The class action lawsuit filed on behalf of 100 000 children and women poisoned in Kabwe, alleges that between 1925 and 1974, Anglo American played a huge role in the management of medical, technical and other services at the mine.
An Anglo spokesperson said yesterday that in fact the mine operator was Zambia Broken Hill Development Company (ZBHDC), so matters relating to the operation of the mine, including employee health, would have been its responsibility.
The spokesperson said that conflating ZBHDC with Anglo American was simply incorrect.
“With Anglo American not owning or operating the mine, we do not have such records – medical or otherwise – relating to the operation of the mine. Operational information was transferred to Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines, who took over control of the operations after nationalisation,” said the spokesperson.
Today will mark the second day of a court hearing into whether Anglo American can receive a second extension to file its response to the class action.
Anglo American said the extension was necessary as it had still not been able to gain access to critical documents and other information that it needed in order to respond appropriately.
Zanele Mbuyisa of Mbuyisa Moleele said Lawrence’s testimony was a powerful contribution to the fight for justice for the people of Kabwe.
“It supports our argument that Anglo failed to take adequate steps to protect the local community.
“Anglo continues to attempt to distance itself from its responsibility to the people of Kabwe in direct contrast to its commitments to provide remediation as part of the Anglo American’s Human Rights Policy,” Mbuyisa said.
Richard Meeran of Leigh Day said: “Given its significant organisational expertise, Anglo needs to explain the circumstances in which it disposed of all these important Kabwe documents.
“In any event, it is crystal clear from the work of doctos Lawrence and Clark that a huge problem of lead contamination of the environment and poisoning of local children occurred under Anglo’s watch before ZCCM came on the scene,” Meeran said.
dineo.faku@inl.co.za
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