Haut-Katanga: Afrewatch calls on Chinese company to repair damage by toxic smoke and wastewater from its mining activities
The African Natural Resources Observatory (Afrewatch), a non-governmental organization for the promotion and protection of human rights, working for the responsible exploitation of natural resources, called, this Friday, February 25, during a press conference, in Lubumbashi, the mining company Congo DONGFANG (CDM) to repair the damage caused to three districts of the annexed commune.
These are, according to this civil society NGO, the impacts resulting from the wastewater discharged from the factory of this mining company and the toxic smoke in these three districts, namely Kamisepe, Kasapa and Kamatete, located in the commune annex, city of Lubumbashi.
“These are particularly large quantities of waste water from the company’s factories which are spreading in the 3 aforementioned districts. At the end of this investigation, it was revealed that to get rid of large quantities of water that abounds in its concession which occupies the entire upstream part, CDM has created several channels which cross the walls of the southern part of his grant. These quantities of water thus released spread in all the plots located behind these factories up to the height of the central prison of Kasapa”, can we read in the report published this Friday during the Afrewatch press conference in Lubumbashi.
This water discharged from the factory of the mining company CDM also affects the police camp of the Kasapa prison with in particular harmful impacts, according to the NGO Afrewatch.
“Another quantity is poured into the large pipeline that runs along the avenue bearing the name of the company and crosses the 3 neighborhoods passing through the Kasapa police camps and the trading center called “Moïse”. Also, it should be noted that the construction works of the drains carried out in order to recover the waters of its concession up to the Lubumbashi River have not been completed and this has only worsened the situation for these communities. Afrewatch continues in its report.
These discharges from the factory of the mining company Congo DONGFANG Mining (CDM) also pose problems for the health of the annexed commune including Kamisepe, Kamatete and the population of three districts of Kasapa.
People living within the radius of about 3 kilometers and around the CDM factory also complain of the recurrent appearance of scabies, botulism and persistent cough (sometimes dry, sometimes lined with blood) due to water discharges runoff and toxic fumes from the company.
Faced with this state of affairs, the NGO Afrewatch calls on the Chinese company CDM to complete the construction of the drains intended to evacuate the water from its concession and to stop polluting the environment.
“…To evacuate the waters of his concession to the Lubumbashi river so that these waters overflow by invading almost all the roads, flooding the plots and the neighboring schools, the vegetable crops or the vegetable gardens as well as the fish ponds. The toxic fumes given off by CDM cause illnesses such as dry, bloody coughs.”
This issue of environmental pollution arises regularly in the Katanga region where several mining companies are located, some of which operate without respecting environmental standards and protecting local communities.
