Top court allows $80bn environmental case to proceed

The High Court of Zambia has dismissed the application by Sino Metals Leach Zambia Limited to throw out the constitutional case brought by 176 residents of Kalusale and Chambishi, clearing the way for a hearing of the $80bn petition on 10 December 2025 – coinciding with the UN International Human Rights Day. Legalbrief says the case, supported by the Southern Africa Litigation Centre (SALC), concerns one of Zambia’s worst environmental disasters: the catastrophic collapse of multiple tailings dams on 18 February 2025, which released between 50m and 90 000m litres of highly acidic and toxic waste into waterways, homes, farmland and the Kafue River system. The spill has left thousands living with contaminated water, poisoned soil, dead livestock, devastated crops and ongoing health risks. Anneke Meerkotter, executive director of the SALC, highlighted in a media release: ‘For too long, powerful mining companies have polluted with impunity while ordinary families pay the price with their health, their land and their futures. This hearing is a moment of reckoning. It is a test of whether Zambia’s justice system will allow corporate giants to hide behind legal manoeuvres, or whether it will finally insist on accountability, transparency and respect for the Constitution.'

'Communities cannot be left to carry the burden of industrial disasters while the companies responsible walk away unscathed.’ The court will hear the substantive constitutional case brought under Article 28 of the Constitution and the Protection of Fundamental Rights Regulations, in which the petitioners allege violations of several rights, including the right to life, the right to property, and the right to a clean and healthy environment. The petitioners seek remedies, including clean water, medical monitoring, emergency support and a comprehensive, independently monitored environmental remediation and compensation plan. This case is historic because it constitutes one of the largest constitutional environmental rights cases in Zambia’s history, tests whether foreign-owned mining companies can be held accountable for large-scale pollution, has the potential to set a region-wide precedent for corporate accountability and community environmental rights, and exposes systemic failures in environmental governance, oversight and emergency response. The court has also indicated that it will give directions on whether this matter may be consolidated with a related case involving overlapping facts.