Lives in Limbo After the Sino Metals Spill (Part II)

• In Kalusale, the mine’s spill isn’t measured in tons of sludge—it’s measured in failed crops, sick families, and empty wells.
• Behind the official reassurances, Chambishi’s farmers are living with poisoned fields and water that makes them ill.
• The government says the danger has passed, but in Kalusale the struggle for safe water and food is only beginning.

By Linda Soko in Chambishi, Kennedy Mbewe & Charles Mafa in Lusaka

While officials in Lusaka and foreign embassies debated the scale of the Sino-Metals disaster, life in Kalusale and surrounding communities told its own story. Burned maize fields, poisoned wells, and rising cases of illness showed the threat was far from “normalised”. For residents, the spill was not a matter of advisories or audit reports—it was a daily struggle for safe water, food, and survival.

When MakanDay visited Kalusale in the weeks that followed, what we found confirmed those fears. Burned maize fields, scorched by acidic runoff, stretched across the landscape as a silent testimony to the damage. Once-thriving farmland now lies barren, its soil too contaminated to sustain crops.

Voices from Kalusale

• “They told us the wells were safe, but our stomachs say otherwise.” — Peter Shula, farmer, on failed crops and unsafe water.
• “My wife started coughing blood. The water is killing us slowly.” — Joseph Chipoka, long-time resident.
• “One mother of eight is still waiting for her payout—officials took her K67,000.” — Bernard Njovu, area chairperson.

Amid the devastation, mining has resumed. Earth-moving machines grind on, extracting copper from displaced deposits—yet for residents, the roar of machinery is a daily reminder of what they have lost.

Farmer Peter Shula, who received K40,000 in compensation, said the company initially delivered each household up to 30 sachets of drinking water a day and a monthly supply of mealie meal. Once payouts were made, however, water deliveries fell to just three times a week.

“Our stay here is in suspense. They told us the fields were restored and the wells were safe, but our experience says otherwise,” he told MakanDay.

Shula tried to restart farming on a small wetland plot, but his maize yellowed after fertilizer, and his tomatoes and onions failed. Once-fertile shallow wells that sustained year-round crops—and earned him about K3,000 a week—are now poisoned.

“Nothing survives,” he said. “Even our livestock look unhealthy, maybe because they’re drinking from the same wells.”

Long-time resident Joseph Chipoka, who received K48,000 in compensation, says pollution has left his community struggling with persistent coughing and other health problems linked to poor air and unsafe water. His wife’s condition has worsened despite medical treatment, and many families are forced to depend on contaminated shallow wells after promised food and water supplies were cut.

“My wife started coughing blood. The water is killing us slowly.” said Chipoka.

Chipoka, who supports a family of ten, says the limited bottled water provided quickly runs out, leaving them to drink salty well water that causes stomach pains. He added that commitments to drill two boreholes and restore a disrupted stream have not been honoured, deepening residents’ sense of abandonment.

He further explained that residents were initially promised three years of compensation, but the company later reduced this to one year. He was told that if crops fail again this farming season, the company would provide further compensation.

Kalusale area chairperson Bernard Njovu told MakanDay that 416 people from Kalulushi had been compensated. Of these, 277 were farmers from Kalusale, while 139 were from the Luena farming block, whose land was polluted with acid from Rongxing Mineral Processing Plant.

However, one woman—a 42-year-old mother of eight—remains unpaid due to what Njovu described as a documentation error. He said officials took her K67,000.

“I am doing everything I can to ensure she gets her money. If they don’t pay, the law will take its course,” Njovu warned.

Despite this case, he expressed relief that the other 276 affected farmers had received their compensation. He also acknowledged the difficulties of lobbying for monthly food and water supplies over the past five months.

Some residents told MakanDay that a company believed to be working with the Zambia Environmental Management Agency collected water samples but has not shared the results.

“The dust pollution is also unbearable. We advised the company to spray water, but they can’t manage. We don’t even know the state of our health anymore,” one resident said.

A source who requested anonymity told MakanDay that the Water Resources Management Authority (WARMA) had visited the area several times, possibly three or four, to collect water samples.

According to this source, tests showed that water from the wells had a pH level below 7—falling short of the required standard and considered abnormal. He added that WARMA is expected to return for further testing, as the well water is not being treated.

“With the community depending on untreated shallow wells for drinking and household use, they remain highly vulnerable to waterborne diseases and chemical contamination, especially with mining activities continuing in the area,” the source said.

On August 13, Bloomberg reported that the disaster threatens to derail President Hakainde Hichilema’s ambition to more than triple Zambia’s copper output to 3 million tons in the coming years.

The report said that China Nonferrous Mining Corp., the parent company of Sino Metals, pledged in 2023 to invest $1.3 billion to expand production in Zambia, Africa’s second-largest copper producer. It added that the incident also complicates Lusaka’s relations with Beijing at a time when Hichilema’s government is negotiating restructuring deals with Chinese lenders for about $5.6 billion in debt.