This article is based on an expose done by American media cooperation CNN.
According to a 2015 decision by the Zambian Supreme Court, the waste from the copper mine controlled by the Zambian arm of the UK-based mining corporation Vedanta Resources caused their once-clear river water to turn an intense blue in 2006.
Chilekwa Mumba, the son of a former miner who has been fighting for justice on behalf of the villages noted that the contamination by the Zambian subsidiary Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) caused the villagers to experience nose bleeds, rashes, gastrointestinal aches, and blood tainted urine.
According to the Supreme Court decision, KCM was operating illegally and the “final straw” was the breaking of slurry pipes that “discharged” acidic wastewater into the tributaries of the Kafue River, which supplies over half of the nation’s drinking water.
However, in Zambia, attempts by locals to obtain compensation for harm done to their environment had been unsuccessful.
Mumba began an uphill battle against the big corporation in 2015 in an effort to obtain reparations for the neighborhood. 2,500 Zambian villagers received compensation from Vedanta Resources and Konkola Copper Mines (KCM) after a six-year legal struggle in the UK, despite the fact that the corporations denied any wrongdoing.
Along the way, Mumba contributed to creating a new precedent that made it possible to sue a British corporation for the deeds of a foreign subsidiary.
The 38-year-old Mumba received the 2023 Goldman Environmental Prize for Africa on April 24 in recognition of his community service and legal precedent-setting.
He told CNN, “It’s a wonderful feeling to receive this award,” “It’s the culmination of work which was done, not just by me but even the community themselves … who stood up against injustice and stood with us for six years.”
One of six international recipients of the renowned prize honoring neighborhood environmental activists is Mumba, a father of three.
In 2019, the UK Supreme Court made a major decision that allowed Zambians to sue Vedanta in English courts. The court found that Vedanta, as the parent company of KCM, owed the villages a duty of care. The legal dispute was ultimately resolved. Vedanta and Leigh Day declared in concert in January 2021: “Without admission of liability, Vedanta Resources Limited and Konkola Copper Mines Plc confirm that they have agreed, for the benefit of local communities, the settlement of all claims brought against them by Zambian claimants represented by English law firm Leigh Day.”
In the same year as the Vedanta decision, the UK’s highest court also decided that two Nigerian communities could file a lawsuit against the oil corporation Royal Dutch Shell and its Nigerian affiliate in English courts.