A British law firm says one of its lawyers was arrested and held for hours in Zambia after meeting residents in Chingola who filed complaints about alleged pollution from Konkola Copper Mines.
The Leigh Day firm said on Thursday that lawyer Oliver Holland was in Zambia to meet communities who say KCM is damaging farmland and water sources.
The firm said Mr Holland was held without charge for four hours and did not have access to a lawyer, food or water.
Mr Holland was meeting with Leigh Day’s clients in their communities to update them on the case when he was arrested for holding a public meeting.
He was arrested under the Public Order Act, stemming from colonial times, which states that holding a meeting of more than three people requires that a police permit must be obtained.
According to Leigh Day this was an ‘excessive response’ to the eventual charge of ‘conduct likely to cause a breach of peace’ which is a misdemeanour, not a criminal offence, which resulted in Mr Holland paying a ZMK50 ($5) fine.
In a statement, the law firm says according to Mr. Holland, the initial arresting police officers involved were driving a vehicle displaying the Konkola Copper Mines logo.
Police in Chingola confirmed that Mr. Holland and two local government officials were arrested and later released.
According to Mr Holland the initial arresting police officers involved were driving a vehicle displaying the Konkola Copper Mines logo.
Mr Holland said: “We will be writing immediately to KCM’s lawyers to obtain a full explanation as to their seeming involvement into my arrest.
“We will be seeking assurances both from the Defendants and from the Zambian government that we will not be prevented from meeting our clients in the future.
“The ability for clients to meet with their lawyers is essential in their pursuit of justice and is a vital element of any fair and open society.”
Mr Holland is a solicitor in the international and group claims department assisting Martyn Day primarily on group actions against British multinationals where environmental damage has occurred.
He is currently assisting Martyn Day on a claim on behalf of 1,800 Zambian farmers against Vedanta Resources and their Zambian subsidiary KCM for damage to land and their health allegedly as a result of the Defendant’s copper mining operations.
Now this is the kind of British dude we like. May the Lord Jesus bless him.
Why should the British take an interest in protecting our people WHEN we have a lawyer for president in this country? Why should our neighbour come and sweep our home when we are able bodied and return brooms? Lazy, lazy and lazy…no, corrupt, corrupt and extremely corrupt!
It was wrong for Mr Holland to be detained. KCM and Mopani have caused so much pollution on the Copperbelt serious action need to be taken, instead of detaining the man the govt should hire him and his Law firm to take these Mines to task!
@Nzelu, how can Jesus bless a Briton?
These are classic cases, like suing a airline for disturbing gathering clouds, hence no rain.
@Prince
That is a good question. Answer ; for sure he is making money. Umusungu has been helping us and will continue to help us ifwe bakafita. ummmm! you are doubting I know. Yes umusunugu is our helper and without him kaya mwandini….Kunti twafwa ngabalunshi.
1) he makes malaria medicine for us,
2)he makes ARVs for us
3)he gives us grants and loans.
4)we all want IMF money owned by umusungu to help us.
5)umusungu is been helping in many areas of our lives including the president when he is sick he runs kumusungu. I hope this answers your question.
6)without umusungu iwe you would not be dressed up today. He brought clothes for you and me. otherwise had he put a copywrite on clothes imwe ngatamufwala iyo.
7)the presidential chalenger it is umusungu who made it even if ba tata ba Lungu is pimping it.
8)most important, umusungu brought maize to us and today we eat nshima as though we own it kanshi it was umusungu’s idea.\
9)umusungu made chibuku for us longtime before you were born. today we say it is our own. had this musungu put a copywrite on chibuku today he would be the richest in southern africa including east africa.
10)umusungu made tissue for you and me, without it we would still be shindering using sand on foot path.
11) I can continue if you say so….i think this will do for now
Kwena I have never seen a dumb head to be precise an empty Brain Iwe House Fly don’t yap! Please stop being a clown providing unpaid-for laughter to the knowledgeable. I can’t believe it! yayayaya kanshi We stiill have musungu boot-likers who don’t even have a clue that Black people are and will still be great because without the Black people we can’t have all this technology we have today.
1. Medicine was first practiced in Africa, 2. Mathematics began in Africa, 3. Science began in Africa, 4.Maize and potatoes were farmed by Black people in the Americas, 5.The first person to discover America was Mansa Musa from west Africa a Black wealthy King, 6.A cash machine was inverted by a Black man, 7.Robots were inverted by a black man, the modern car was inverted by a black man, the list…
House Fly do you know that British people or most of Europe used to live in trees and when I say trees I mean trees whilst the people (Black – Africans) you look down on were far developed living in houses. If You think colonialism was about raw materials then you are a fool! it was about a people (Bantu people) and their true origins to undress them off their inheritance – The true Israelites who were driven out of their land by Rome and still Rome is in power trying make sure you don’t remember who you are. Europe have their Alphabet and writings, Chinese people have, Indians have, Red indians have, Arabs have, Egyptians (Black – Hamites) have, Jews (Imposters) have, Bantu – Semite – People ? please as yourself where our History before the 1st century is ………
This is why the dull Yaluma always has these CLOSED DOOR MEETINGS as only brown envelopes and such instructions are issued
@ Nzelu you are as docile as they come…you think a lawyer would be doing this for free…you clearly have not hear of not win no fee!!
Please educate ECL what a Public Order Act means. Take GRZ and KCM to court so that innocent Zambians are not victimised by ECL and his cohort.
@ TRUTH – SELENIKO TWIKALE
I will not argue with you but ever since I was born I have seen and touched with my eyes & hands respectively the following.
1) Medicine which you claim was made by umublacki, ine I have only seen in hospitals those made by umusungu. 2) Mathermatics, I did ADMA pa year 12. All those formulas today are applied in real life by umusungu. So as you put it that umublacki made insamushi but show me in Zambia were insamushi has been applied and produced a car, or bridge or a nation highway? 3) Ati maize farmed by black people in Americas, question is when blacki people went to americas, what sort of staple food did they eat back in africa. according to my history twalelia ama roots ifwe. elo umusungu aleta ubwali lelo waponta nokuponta. uletasha kwindi iwe. I think I…
—… I think I will not respond to ubusushi walemba ati robot namotoka mublacki who made them. Where in Zambia do we invert motoka, namaroboti iwe kwindi? Nenjinga nimwenye uwalepanga elo twachita assembo kuchipata iwe makaka wakantu.
This only means two things: (1) The people of Zambia have lost confidence in their own Legal Representatives i.e. Lawyers. (2) The British Lawyer behaved like a Colonialist of which he still is. Like it or not, Zambian is a sovereign state and as such, has a government. Holland should have cleared with a responsible government department before undertaking his exercise. Likewise, a Zambian Lawyer can’t just fly into the UK and start organizing meetings, especially sensitive ones for that matter, with the local people without due clearance from the British authority. He had it coming! We may have our own problems as a country but we are a sovereign state who must be respected accordingly.
@House lunshi and @Trash – Seleniko, what are you two pillocks on about, when between the two of you invert is the same as invent…!
It’s all about money. This Hilland ain’t no savior. Don’t ever be fooled by the British again!
This Holland ain’t no savior. It’s all about money. Haven’t the British tricked you enough?
Why can’t Zambian lawyers do this? All LAZ does is release statements. They never work for people.
If you’re not aware how much damage the mines are causing to the environment in Zambia with impunity, then maybe you don’t really care about your country. These mining companies don’t care about Zambia, it’s people, Zambia’s laws, nor do they respect them. And they know they cannot be sued or prosecuted, most likely because of corruption by the government leaders who are supposed to be holding them accountable. And so then these mining companies dump poisonous waste into our rivers, thus poisoning our water and our water creatures; they also release poisonous fumes into the air which leads to the poor Zambians developing lung diseases. And after all this, these companies even refuse to pay taxes. Most likely, there is immense corruption going on with these companies in cahoots with…
(Continued)… corrupt government officials, and that’s why they get away with stuff like this — and they know that if it was in any other country where government leaders care about their country and their people, they would be held accountable. But in Zambia, no one in government cares about the poor Zambians. Lungu has never even issued a statement concerning this. If you want to see what’s happening with these mining companies in Zambia, just go to YouTube and watch the video titled: “Stealing Africa–Why Poverty?” It starts somewhere in Europe but it’s all about Zambia. Please watch and learn what’s happening to your beloved country.
House Fly you are so empty and I don’t think even education contributed anything to you I think the Zambian government wasted its resources on people like you, that’s why you named yourself “Lunshi” you only contribute diseases to the masses. First of all Black people are not only found in Zambia or Zambians only limited to Zambia. I don’t stay in Zambia and there are lot of Zambians who live in the diaspora, I don’t care where you live but one thing I know is nimwe Bakamushi aba fukamina umusungu ine ndengisha nabasungu amacito elyo balambombela they work for me I will never be inferior to the Colour of a human being because I know all human race came from Black people….. Iwe Lunshi tapali efyo waishiba ukafwa umututu kabili uwatipwa.
@ Visungu that is called a syntax error period I did not make a mistake because you can understand the gist of the whole statement and by the way your analysis came out of your mind the whole story is plausible enough to you, so stop mechanizing your brain neurons to pomposity. Naiwe bututu ubo tauli musungu iwe! kabili tatuli basungu ifwe tuli bena Zambia, elyo ine ndi mu Bemba nkonko nokufokombela ndafokombela. Ok translate or interpret invent for me Mu Chibemba nangu any Zambian Language?
Can the Inspector General of Police and the President explain to the nation why this foreign lawyer was arreasted when he was doing something good for the indigenous citizens of Zambia?? Considering that they have failed to protect the rights very own from the harmful pollutants that are discharged from the mines. How KCM police got arrestinf powers equal to that of Zambia Police?
He broke the law of the Land! he would have had done the right thing in the right way than the right thing in a wrong way.
You think Lazy Lungu can explain to you…you are nothing to him for the next four years!!
HERE KCM WOULD SIMPLY PAY SOME BIG FISH BIG MONEY AND THE CASE NEVER HEARD OF AGAIN CORRUPTION IS THE BACK BONE OF TODAY S ZAMBIA. SAD AFTER 51 YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE.
Those “officers” are foolish aren’t their families staying in the same affected communities? Isn’t the affected farmland that which they and their families eat from? This is where I would like to hear from Given Lubinda this is his department and the IG in turn owes this law firm and the people of Zambia an explanation. By effecting this arrest “S–t” just got real!
Kabova, learn not to contribute if you don’t understand the commonwealth legal system. You live possibly abroad in one of the commonwealth countries and if you are not happy for you case to be heard in Zambia you use the judicial system in your country of residence.
Remember the KCM is a subsidiary of Vedenta company registered in Uk and to get a fair and just outcome UK courts are far much robust and independent unlike the corrupt Zambian judicial system where you can go and wake up a judge at 03am to obtain you judgement
Thanks @Pafwemamwine. Stoopidity and ignorance rules in Zambia. KCM are chronic polluters of the Kafue River and surrounding farm land. Because they have govt, all the way to State House on their Indian d!cks, only British Courts will listen to the affected communities. In this instance, KCM and PFolice have gone too far in intimidating the lawyer and communities. Zambia is truly a failed state.
@Back Tooth Lungs, why do you spend all of your f***ing productive time commenting on a failed state and it’s leadership..!? Are you a failed individual..!?
Surely the British Lawyer will definitely get justice for this poor Copper belt residents in the United Kingdom Judicial System than in our corrupt and compromised Zambian Judicial System. The costs of pollution to the residents of the copperbelt is lethal.
It’s interesting that the POA left by his primitive, colonial, enslaving ancestors is what has caught up with him in modern times.
Next news headlines please. We want to hear more about the 28 year old Zambian genius who hacked Airtel not these weasels who have hidden interests and agendas.
@Kudos,
I respect your comments but I think you have not seriously analysed this problem. What the law firm is doing is recommendable. This law firm prosecutes companies which have headquarters in UK and are found to pollute the environment, whether in UK, Zambia or any country. We all need to understand that the issue of land pollution is very serious because when land is polluted, those pollutants get into food chain and affect any one who consume food grown on that land. So, you may be in Lusaka but if you eat an orange or maize grown on a polluted land, you will indirectly consume the chemicals some of which cause deceases such us Cancer. This is not a political matter. Infact FYI both UPND and PF Councillors were arrested becoz they understood the importance of the issue at hand…
Ask yourself why after so many years you’re still sticking to colonial laws. This POA is a disgrace to Zambians. It has stifled our democracy and I wonder how a ‘lawyer’ president stands it. We have as a country stopped thinking. Malawians are showing us how to fight coruption and now the British are exposing how backward our justice system is. Sometimes I hate being a Zambian because I can no longer identify myself with the Zambia I grew up in. A Zambia of brave intellectuals who felt proud and free. Leaders who were inspirational and focused. I hate what is happening in my country.
@The Trueth, aren’t you just a genius, how do you know all that complicated stuff…!?
By the way, it’s ‘commendable’ and not ‘recommendable’…
@vizungu aka teacher Mable Shawa from grade 1 B chibelo primary, take it easy. Na iwe umafwaula maningi ngelezi. Atase.
Surely he cannot “practice” in Zambia he should have contracted a local firm to “meet” clients. Even when the fat desk lawyer and ex DPP by default he pretended to prosecute chiluba he couldnt go into london to “examine” alledgedly stolen properties he went under a london firm.
Why this evil? Shame in this country! The British lawyer has nothing to do with our internal politics.. Matuvi ya president! Foolish!
Ba kanyangu (mine police) don’t have authority to detain anyone. Their duty is to protect company property, apprehend tresspassers and immediately hand them over to state police. He must sue for unauthorized detention.
KCM is as useless as ZESCO
PF, can you sort out the mess at KCM before its too late? Find other people to run the mines!
But you are complaining that they came from colonial time? Are u not the British who made the public order act.
It was good for Holland to feel what our HH and GBM feel because of the stupid did of the British (your people and government) in Northern Rhodesia.
HE IS TRYING TO CLEAN THE MESS HIS FOREFATHERS CREATED. IMAGINE POURING THE ENTIRE SULFUR DIOXIDE GAS ONTO HELPLESS NATIVES IN KANKOYO MUFULIRA!
GOOD JOB MR HOLLAND…WE ARE SOLIDLY BEHIND YOU! WILL GIVE ALL INFORMATION HOW THESE ID***OTS HAVE R*APED OUR LAND!
Mr white man welcome to the dictatorship called Zambia which is run by a sick rat who stole an election and his only way of holding onto power is arbitrary rule. Lungu azafa soon. You cannot annoy many people and expect a happy ending
Alot of docility in this country indeed … Govt should repossess this KCM joke. And kwena ZP should stop succumbing to cheap bribes from KCM cos this is embarrassing… And where is the Environmental Protection Agency?
The green side of the dollar is better than the green side of the environment. This to me is the reason Zambian authorities arrested this lawyer fighting for environmental and social justice. Shame on the PF police!
justice can be suppressed but it cannot be defeated .
” It will be well in the end, if it is not well then it is not the end” quote
Justice will triumph.
Meno meno can you arrest the magic ring kawalala above using our PAO although the muzungu was caught up in his own web,because PAO was precisely made for a black in colonial days so today it is catching creator of the same law, it will still be used on jameson in turn.We donot want Nigerian mambalas.By the way I have not seen teeth reciprocating like tarpets of an old locamotive engine to clear his government on Malawi maize saga.When he leaves office in 2021 we will probe him on the presidential housing scheme also concerning the money he give Rupwiku mbanje,even when the earlier presidents have not benefited yet.
KCM must have a lot of issues like an untrained marketeer
Bafi**kala ba KCM coniving with belly empty Zambia Police, KCM always st>n**ks of corruption!
Where is our government kanshi?
Comment:in India were this fool argawahal comes from, the owner of vendetta, the government has refused to give him a licence to set up a steel plant koz of pollution issues. it’s only in Zambia that this man Z respected.just recently the Anglican church withdrew it’s shares in vendata.
DO***GS in KCM, Indian ones!
Mr Oliver Holland, I am very very sorry for what happened to you. I agree that the Public Order Act is an archaic piece of legislation which your Majesty’s government left with us as a gift to control Donkeys in our society which they knew would be with us for a long long time after independence. If it was not for our fair share of Donkeys, less than 50% in total, the POA would have have repealed and you would not have suffered this inconvenience. Please accept my sincere apologies as the POA was not meant fir you but you were caught in the cross fire.
Just look at the presidential petition and the court riots long after the elections and you will understand why we still need tge POA.
As for KCM and their donkey mother Vedanta please continue your good works, do not be distracted by those minor inconveniences. We shall make sure that whenever it happens you are released within four hours. But please fix the donkeys which polute our rivers? They did it again recently by the way
In any sane functioning Non failed State, people would embrace, encourage, & even ensure this lawyer is offered unhindered access to his clients & area he is investigating.
HOWEVER LETS NOT FORGET WE ARE IN ZAMBIA, CURRENTLY AMONGST THE TOP 10 MOST CORRUPT PLACES ON THE PLANET!!
With a President who was barred from practicing law, for embezzling a clients funds, to him becoming a U$ Dollar multi Millionaire in weeks, does one wonder why the mines who are in gross violation of environmental laws behave with impunity??
Corrupt “Chaiiman Chagwa of Chawama has got some of his unexplained Millions from these same filthy polluting mines!
This Africa My friend, Next time will not send the police but the battalion of Cadres under the leadership of deputy to Moses Mwaliteta..Carefull we have on laws(once yours)
Zesco, we have received your message of lack of power in Chazanga, Zingalume and surrounding areas. But surely two days investigating. Things in our fridges are starting to rot. Surely you can do better
Why doesn’t govt make zesco a central energy provider then encourage all city councils to take over the selling of electricity through companies they own? At present zesco does too many things. One CEO can’t effectively oversea these functions
The Public order act was left by his ancestors. Aipezekeza
So why didn’t the Zambia govt repel this act over the last 52 yrs, simple keeps the govt safe from the people
let’s not condem the British lawyer.most Zambian lawyers are selfish and only interested in making money. the truth remains that KCM z a stupid company being protected by an incompetent goverment.
Lungu is useless and corrupt, no wonder these Indians are mistreating and polluting our country without any consequences. Lungu is the worse president Zambia has ever had, Period.
Sata was right to bring a malawian judge to hear a matter as no judge in zambia could do so
@ Soul
I hear you
It’s a waste of time debating why a muzungu is helping you. If you are drowning and you see a hand reaching out to you just grab it and ask who it is later. The bushmen in Botswana have been saved from mistreatment by a muzungu, the miners in south Africa have been compensated on asbestosis because a muzungu took up the case in London. As long as someone isn’t exploiting you accept his help. There are bad white men and good white men just as there’s similar black men. That’s just reality.
It’s funny how the law created by colonialists is still being carried out.I was disgusted when I watched the documentart about pollution. Obviously this lawyer is trying to bring awareness. Most of you according to these comments don’t see how Zambian leaders have failed us by taking money at the expense of these communities. It’s so dumb. People are dying as a result of this greed. Zambia shall not be saved. Shot keeps gething worse. Wake the hell up!!! Umu Chinese temunobe.
The public order act, is not a PF act, even any other government will come and apply it even more firmly , maybe after 50years. That muzungu, should have worked with a Zambian lawyer, and within the law. Those of u wishing Lungu dead, r foolish and dull, because regardless of who is ruling PF, PF has come to stay.
It all boils down to keeping UPNDonkeys in check. They cannot read law let alone interpret it correctly. POA is the only law which the Majesty’s government found appropriate for controlling donkeys in a society like ours, they knew that some people may be inconvenienced like Mr Holland but there is no alternative in our “mixed” society, just like all members have to breathe the same air.
Ubututu our death rate will still raise as if we are in war country due to poor knowledge of occupation and community health promotion policy.
The fact is pollution has killed many people in the CB.. I was brought up in the CB mining areas and I have experienced alot of neighbrs dying of lung congestion, allergies etc.
Why not handle the matter in professional way?