EMV EXPOSES COVER-UP IN ZAMBIA’S WORST ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTER
By Brian Matambo, Lusaka, Zambia
On EMV Tonight, Ambassador Emmanuel Mwamba dedicated the broadcast to what may be Zambia’s darkest environmental catastrophe: the February 18, 2025 collapse of a Sino Metals tailings dam that spilled more than 1.5 million metric tons of toxic waste into the Mbashi and Kafue rivers.
Government statements have downplayed the crisis, with ministers insisting the water is safe and staging photo-ops of officials drinking tap water. Independent audits by South African firm Drizzid, commissioned at a cost of $4.5 million, and an investigative report by Channel 4 UK, point to a disaster on a global scale. Commentators compared it to Chernobyl, the Ok Tedi River disaster in Papua New Guinea, and the BP Deepwater Horizon spill.
The Kafue River sustains over 7 million Zambians, including Lusaka’s water supply, farming communities, fisheries, and game parks. Scientific findings reveal dangerous concentrations of arsenic, cyanide, lead, mercury, cadmium, and uranium, capable of causing long-term organ damage, birth defects, and cancers.
GOVERNMENT RESPONSE UNDER FIRE
Despite mounting evidence, ministers of Information, Water Development, and Green Economy assured citizens that the water is safe, citing over 200 samples tested. Compensation of 800 kwacha per family was handed out in Chambeshi, with reports that recipients were forced to sign gag orders barring them from pursuing legal claims.
The Zambia Environmental Management Agency (ZEMA) Director General resigned abruptly, reportedly under pressure after refusing to participate in what callers on EMV described as a “cover-up.” Allegations of bribery and intimidation have swirled around government officials, raising suspicions that regulatory independence has been compromised.
INTERNATIONAL PRESSURE MOUNTS
The US Embassy in Zambia issued two evacuation notices in June and August, warning its nationals to leave the pollution zone and describing even breathing the air as dangerous. Washington has directly accused Beijing of orchestrating a cover-up through Sino Metals, a subsidiary of China Nonferrous Metals Mining Group. At the same time, Zambia is seeking to restructure $5.6 billion in Chinese debt, a fact many fear has weakened the government’s resolve to act.
PUBLIC OUTRAGE
Callers to EMV expressed anger, despair, and betrayal. Some reported rising medical bills, children suffering unexplained dizziness and heart palpitations, and livestock deaths. One priest likened the crisis to Chernobyl, warning of intergenerational health impacts. Others called it “Zambia’s worst environmental betrayal,” accusing the government of “manslaughter by silence.”
DEMAND FOR ACTION
Ambassador Mwamba and panelists demanded an independent international audit of the disaster, immediate medical screening of affected communities, and a transparent compensation framework. They stressed that heavy metals do not dissipate, meaning contamination will persist for centuries unless large-scale cleanup, estimated at 100 trucks of lime daily for a year, is undertaken.
“This government runs on propaganda and lies,” Mwamba said. “They cannot bury such a disaster. To cover it up is criminal, and it places the lives of millions of Zambians in danger.”
As Zambia heads into the rainy season, fears grow that toxins will spread further downstream, deepening the humanitarian and ecological toll.