Kabwe is the capital of the

Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most cent ...

n Central Province and the

Kabwe District Kabwe District is a district of Zambia, located in Central Province. The capital lies at Kabwe Kabwe is the capital of the Zambian Central Province and the Kabwe District, with a population estimated at 202,914 at the 2010 census. Named Broken ...

, with a population estimated at 202,914 at the 2010 census. Named Broken Hill until 1966, it was founded when

lead Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...

and

zinc Zinc is a chemical element with the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. Zinc is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodi ...

deposits were discovered in 1902. Kabwe also has a claim to being the birthplace of Zambian politics as it was an important political centre during the colonial period. Kabwe is an important transportation, farming and university centre. Kabwe is becoming a major agricultural hub for the country is the headquarters for Zambia Railways and prison services. Additionally the mining industry has been important to the economic development of the region. However, because of the exceptional contamination of the city with lead and other toxins, and the effects of these on local children's health, a March 2022 report by the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and the Environment identified the town as a sacrifice zone for industry.

History

Headquarters of Zambia Railways

Rhodesian Railways under construction near Broken Hill Zambia

The first railway in the country, operated by

Rhodesian Railways The National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ), formerly Rhodesia Railways, is a state-owned company in Zimbabwe that operates the country's national railway system. It is headquartered in the city of Bulawayo. In addition to the headquarters, it has ...

when the territory was administered as North-Western Rhodesia and North-Eastern Rhodesia, reached the Broken Hill mine as early as 1906, and the town became the northern base for the railway, which was the second biggest employer after the

mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic via ...

industry. A locomotive maintenance facility was constructed there. In 1909 the railway reached Ndola in what was to become the Copperbelt. The railway workers' unions played a large role in the politics of the country. In racially segregated colonial times before Africans had the vote, the town was the seat of Roy Welensky, leader of the powerful Rhodesia Railway Workers Union (RRWU), who became

prime minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

of the ill-fated

Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, also known as the Central African Federation or CAF, was a colonial federation that consisted of three southern African territories: the Self-governing colony, self-governing British colony of Southe ...

, which was opposed by the Northern Rhodesia Railway

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

(the black Africans' union) led by Dixon Konkola and also based in Kabwe. Today, the town is the headquarters of

Zambia Railways Zambia Railways (ZR) is the national railway company of Zambia, one of the two major railway organisations in Zambia. The other system is the binational TAZARA Railway (TAZARA) that interconnects with the ZR at Kapiri Mposhi and provides a link to ...

but employment levels on the railway have been heavily cut.

Independence protest

Reflecting Kabwe's central location and railway union base, it was chosen as the site for a rally held on October 26, 1958, at Mulungushi Rock north of the city by the

Kaunda Kaunda is an African surname that may refer to the following notable people: * Betty Kaunda (1928–2012), First Lady of Zambia, wife of Kenneth * Billy Kaunda, Government minister of Malawi * John Kaunda, Zambian football goalkeeper * Kenneth Kau ...

- Kapwepwe breakaway group from the

Zambian African National Congress The Northern Rhodesia Congress was a political party in Zambia. History The Northern Rhodesia Congress party was formed in 1940, as the Northern Rhodesia Congress (NRC) or Northern Rhodesia African Congress (NRAC). Godwin Lewanika, a Barotseland ...

. Later, they founded the political party

UNIP The United National Independence Party (UNIP) is a political party in Zambia. It governed the country from 1964 to 1991 under the socialist President (government title), presidency of Kenneth Kaunda, and was the sole legal party in the country ...

which led the successful independence movement and continued to hold conferences at Mulungushi Rock, which became known as the 'birthplace of independence' in Zambia.

Districts

Makululu

A large informal settlement on the outskirts of the city, Makululu is an important district in the town. The settlement is on the edge of the Lukanga Swamp, and is thus vulnerable to flooding. Similarly, the water is highly contaminated from both poor sanitation and the broader industrial pollution from the mine.

Environmental issues

Mine pollution

A study by the Blacksmith Institute found Kabwe to be one of the ten most polluted places in the world due mostly to heavy metal (mostly zinc and lead) tailings making their way into the local water supply. A 2014 report indicates that children's blood lead levels continue to be elevated even though mining has stopped. A 2020 study, found high levels of lead and cadmium in blood levels. A March 2022 report by the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and the Environment identified the town as a sacrifice zone for industry. Other studies, have found high potential for copper, cobalt and other non-lead materials in leachate from the mine.

Transportation

As well as being on the main

line, it lies on the Great North Road. On February 7, 2013, a bus collided with two cars near Kabwe, killing 53 people. It was one of the worst road accidents in Zambian history.

Industries and agriculture

Historically the economy of Kabwe has been dominated by the mine. Other industries include pharmaceuticals, milling and cotton ginning, and Kabwe's first Drinking Water Plant (Aquador Purifed Water) and leather tanning.Zamnet Online News:
"Kabwe: From discovery to recovery" (Zambia Daily Mail), website accessed 7 March 2007. To the east of the city are the hydro-electric power stations of the

Mulungushi Dam The Mulungushi Dam located 50 km south-east of Kabwe, Zambia was constructed by the Broken Hill Development Company on the Mulungushi River and opened in 1925 by the then Prince of Wales (the future Edward VIII) to provide hydroelectric power to ...

Mita Hills Dam Mita Hills Dam is an embankment dam with a hydroelectric power station and reservoir located near Kabwe, in the Central Province of Zambia. Construction of the dam began in 1955. The reservoir is approximately 30 km long by 3-5 km wide. Bream ...

and Lunsemfwa Falls, built to power the mine and town. Commercial farming areas surround the city about 10 km from the centre, and the road and rail links provide ready access to the markets of the Copperbelt and Lusaka.

Mine

The name ''Kabwe'' or ''Kabwe-Ka Mukuba'' means 'ore' or 'smelting' but the European/Australian prospectors named it Broken Hill after a similar mine in

Broken Hill, New South Wales Broken Hill is an inland mining city in the far west of outback New South Wales, Australia. It is near the border with South Australia on the crossing of the Barrier Highway (A32) and the Silver City Highway (B79), in the Barrier Range. It is ...

, Australia. The mine was the largest in the country for around thirty years until it was overtaken in the early 1930s by larger copper mining complexes on the Copperbelt. Apart from lead and zinc it also produced

silver Silver is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/h₂erǵ-, ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, whi ...

manganese Manganese is a chemical element with the symbol Mn and atomic number 25. It is a hard, brittle, silvery metal, often found in minerals in combination with iron. Manganese is a transition metal with a multifaceted array of industrial alloy use ...

and heavy metals such as

cadmium Cadmium is a chemical element with the symbol Cd and atomic number 48. This soft, silvery-white metal is chemically similar to the two other stable metals in group 12, zinc and mercury. Like zinc, it demonstrates oxidation state +2 in most of ...

vanadium Vanadium is a chemical element with the symbol V and atomic number 23. It is a hard, silvery-grey, malleable transition metal. The elemental metal is rarely found in nature, but once isolated artificially, the formation of an oxide layer ( pas ...

, and

titanium Titanium is a chemical element with the symbol Ti and atomic number 22. Found in nature only as an oxide, it can be reduced to produce a lustrous transition metal with a silver color, low density, and high strength, resistant to corrosion in ...

in smaller quantities.

Bruce Kapferer Bruce Kapferer (born 1940 in Sydney) is an Australian anthropologist. He is best known for his work on Sri Lanka, Australia and Zambia. He has been at the forefront of anthropological debate for over three decades. He was honoured with Huxley ...

: "Strategy and Transaction in an African Factory", Manchester: Manchester University Press 1972 In 1921 a

human fossil The following tables give an overview of notable finds of hominin fossils and remains relating to human evolution, beginning with the formation of the tribe Hominini (the divergence of the human and chimpanzee lineages) in the late Miocene, roug ...

, a skull, dubbed '' Kabwe 1'', also "Broken Hill Man" or "Rhodesian Man" (classified as '' Homo rhodesiensis'' or '' Homo heidelbergensis'') was found in the mine. The mine, which occupies a 2.5 km² site 1 km south-west of the town centre, is closed but metals are still extracted from old

tailings In mining, tailings are the materials left over after the process of separating the valuable fraction from the uneconomic fraction (gangue) of an ore. Tailings are different to overburden, which is the waste rock or other material that overlie ...

. Closure of the mine led to economic decline for Kabwe. It has a number of

manufacturing Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to a r ...

industries including the Zambia-China Mulungushi

textiles Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not the ...

plant established with Chinese investment in the 1980s, but after suffering large losses this plant closed (temporarily according to management) at the beginning of 2007.

Climate

Institutions and attractions

* Mulungushi Rock of Authority, north of the city * Mulungushi University * Kabwe Warriors football club, one of the top three teams in the country *

Zambia National Service The Zambia National Service, abbreviated ZNS, is part of the Zambian Defence Force whose primary objective is to train Zambian citizens in agriculture and craft skillsit was formed in 1963 as a Land Army before it was renamed to Zambia National Se ...

Training School * Chindwin Barracks and Kohima Barracks (

Zambian Defence Force The Zambian Defence Force is the military of Zambia. It consists of the Zambian Army, the Zambian Air Force, and the Zambia National Service. The defence forces were formed at Zambian independence on 24 October 1964, from constituent units of the ...

) * Mulungushi Boat Club,

Kwame Nkrumah University Kwame Nkrumah University (KNU) is a public university in Zambia. Location The university's main campus is in the central business district of the city of Kabwe, approximately by road north of Lusaka, the capital and largest city in Zambia. T ...

, a public institution of higher education *

Paglory University Paglory University is a Christian private university of education, that is located in the city of Kabwe, within the Central Province of Zambia. History Paglory University was established in 1996 as Paglory College of Education. It was upgraded to ...

* Ellensmere High School

Notable people

* Wilbur Smith, novelist *

Michael Norgrove Michael Norgrove (9 January 1981 – 6 April 2013) was a British professional boxer from Woodford Green, London. Nicknamed the "Zambezi Hitman", at the time of his death Norgrove had an unbeaten professional record. His death occurred several d ...

, boxer * Tutwa Ngulube, politician

References

External links

* *http://www.daily-mail.co.zm/the-rebirth-of-kabwe-town/ *http://www.bmrplc.com/kabwe_mine.php *https://www.investincentralzambia.com/wordpress/kabwe-district-profile/ *https://www.mindat.org/loc-4341.htm *https://www.zambia-info.org/country/town/1316/kabwe {{Authority control Populated places in Central Province, Zambia Provincial capitals in Zambia Mining communities in Africa Mining in Zambia 1902 establishments in the British Empire