Meet the “scavengers” on the Montagne Noire in the most toxic city in the world

Sifting through the lead waste, these are the avowed scavengers who work on the Montagne Noire in the most toxic city in the world.

The first thing you notice about this desperate group is the darkness in their eyes. They are red, heavily bloodshot. Some turned yellow.

A motley crew dressed in tracksuit bottoms, coveralls - some are barefoot - they easily recognize dangerously high levels of lead in their bloodstream.

Toxic dust swirls all around us, blackening the afternoon sky. A bunch of them are following us as we conduct various interviews on the site…they could be zombies from a Hollywood movie.

Many tell of the telltale signs of lead poisoning: abdominal pain, gastric problems, memory loss. Working from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., they fill sacks with their dusty loot, the dark gray lead slag that they sell to Japanese and Chinese traders, mostly for batteries.

We see teams of men hauling the earth with their bare hands, sifting lead, shoveling ore into wagons or digging metal with pickaxes.

Joseph Muwalba, 32, earns the equivalent of £15 a week (

Picture:

Andy Commins/Daily Mirror)

Some are paid as little as 12 kwacha per sack for the backbreaking work…about 68p.

Matbin Mwengula, 22, had to go to work on the lead pile to support his family after his parents were killed in a car accident. He works alongside 17-year-old Manix Chimfwembe, who dropped out of school at 12 to earn money for his family.

Gift Mutasa, 18, dressed in a dirty raincoat, torn sweatpants and mittens, has worked here in Kabwe since he was 13. He is already suffering from it on his health with serious digestive problems.

Cadeau said, "It makes me sick." There are days he doesn't go to the bathroom, days he can't stop.

Jackson Makungu, 45, works in the mountains and lives nearby with his family. He said, "We all know it's toxic, but we have no choice.

"There are no other industries, life is hard. The only other jobs here are in government, so we have to do this to feed our families. We are scavengers, it's true. You find many women who buy the lead at the door to resell but they no longer work in the mountains because of the dangers to their health.

"The same goes for children because we know they are poisoned. Some guys earn as little as 10 kwacha a day, which is less than a dollar."