A
century later, Kasempa has become the latest epicentre of Zambia’s new gold
rush. Much like its neighbour Mufumbwe, thousands of people from across the
country and even the wider SADC region are converging on the area in search of
the hypothetical and literal pot of gold. But what looks like opportunity on
the surface is quickly revealing deep cracks in public health, social protection
and the local economy. The signs are
stark. Sanitary facilities are almost non-existent in mining camps, which are
unmistakable due to the blue-light tents used for shelters. The Ministry of
Health has recorded increases in disease outbreaks linked to overcrowding and
poor hygiene. Violence, including murder among miners, has become disturbingly
common. For instance, one healthcare facility reported receiving 4 deaths on arrival
in the past 3 months, a stark increase for a community that had never
experienced such incidents.
For
the people of Kasempa, the social cost is visible in classrooms that are losing
young girls to early motherhood and households forced into deeper poverty as
the cost of basic goods skyrockets under inflated demand. Many of the mothers
seeking care at under-5 clinics appeared to be minors, a testament to the
rising issue of early motherhood in the area.
Kasempa’s
story is not an isolated one. It mirrors a broader problem in Zambia’s artisanal
and small-scale mining sector. While the large-scale mining industry operates
under relatively clear licensing and environmental rules, the small-scale
mining sector remains fragmented and under-regulated. Zambia is estimated to
have more than 100,000 artisanal and small-scale miners, yet only a fraction
operate under formal licences. The cost of licensing and the complexity of the
process push many into informal operations, where oversight is weak and risks
are high.
The
government has begun to expand support for this subsector. In the past year,
budget allocations to ASM have more than doubled and hundreds of new artisanal
licences have been granted. Gold-marketing centres are being established to
reduce exploitation by middlemen. These are positive steps, but Kasempa shows
how much more urgently needs to be done.
Three
priorities stand out.
First,
regularisation. Mining cannot be left to chaos. Registration of miners,
simplified licensing and clear oversight are critical not only for revenue, but
for safety, law enforcement and community stability.
Second,
health and social protection. Every mining rush should trigger deployment of
mobile clinics, clean water, sanitation and disease surveillance. Equally,
social programmes must protect children, especially girls, from dropping out of
school under the weight of mining-related pressures.
Third,
cushioning the local economy. When demand spikes, locals should not be priced out
of their own markets. Measures to stabilise food and basic goods, combined with
efforts to add value locally, can prevent the economic distortion that is
pushing communities further into poverty.
Kasempa
is a warning. Gold can enrich lives, but without deliberate governance, it can
just as easily strip them bare. If Zambia is to benefit from its mineral
wealth, the state must ensure that artisanal mining does not become a story of
lost childhoods, collapsing health and broken communities.
The time to act is now, before Kasempa becomes the rule rather than the exception.