When police raided an unlicensed pharmaceutical factory in Zimre Park, Ruwa on May 14, the story that circulated focused on what was seized: capsule-filling machines, blister-packing equipment, finished products, and raw materials worth an estimated US$25 000.
Blessed Magagoyi (25) was arrested. A second suspect, Tonee Tapiwa Vambe, is still being sought.
What the public has not been told until now is what was actually inside the capsules, who was buying them, and what they were told those capsules would do for them?
Inside the capsules
MCAZ public relations officer Davison Kaiyo confirmed to this reporter in an exclusive response that the seized products were unknown capsules filled with crushed unknown substances, and some filled with mateko edzungu (crushed nut shells).
These were packed in sealed bottles and branded Organicare. The products were marketed to people suffering from infertility, low sex drive, fibroids and sexually transmitted infections.
Consider the significance of that target market. These are among the most stigmatised health conditions in Zimbabwe. People seeking treatment for infertility or STIs are often reluctant to consult a formal doctor, making them vulnerable to promises from informal sellers, and unlikely to report being duped.
The factory did not randomly pick its audience. It picked people with the least protection and the most desperation.
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Kaiyo confirmed that the quality of the substances has still not been ascertained and that the production environment was not fit for pharmaceutical manufacturing, posing a serious public health threat.
MCAZ has urged anyone who consumed these products to contact the authority through its available channels.
“The quality is still to be ascertained. MCAZ therefore strongly discourages the public from consuming these medicines, as the production areas were not fit for pharmaceuticals, posing a serious public health threat.” stressed Kaiyo
A conviction that changed nothing
This is not the first time Organicare has been raided. Kaiyo confirmed that the company previously operated from premises along Jason Moyo Avenue in Harare, where unregistered complementary medicines were confiscated and suspects convicted.
After that conviction, the operation moved this time to a residential area in Ruwa, where it continued manufacturing and distributing through the same Jason Moyo Avenue branch until May 14.
A criminal prosecution did not stop this network. It relocated it.
The distribution question
On whether investigators found records pointing to customers in the formal or informal market, Kaiyo confirmed there were no documents pointing to formal market purchases.
Distribution ran through the Organicare branch on Jason Moyo Avenue. How far those products spread beyond that single outlet to social media sellers, informal vendors, or secondary distributors remains unknown.
Kaiyo said MCAZ is still reviewing sales documents to estimate how many citizens may have been affected.
That review matters enormously. The factory was the production node. Jason Moyo Avenue was one distribution point. In Zimbabwe's informal medicine market, one distribution point is rarely the end of the chain.
The rise of WhatsApp and social media platforms as medicine-selling channels a pattern MCAZ has flagged repeatedly since 2022 means that products carrying the Organicare branding may have reached buyers across the country without any record.
The reform question nobody asked
Three days before this factory was discovered, Finance minister Mthuli Ncube announced the abolition of Health Professions Authority licensing fees for pharmaceutical wholesalers and the complete scrapping of MCAZ pharmacy licence fees, framed as reducing barriers to healthcare access.
The Ruwa factory did not need lower fees. It was not trying to get licensed. The gap it exploited was not regulatory cost. It was enforcement capacity.
MCAZ detected the original Organicare operation through a public complaint. It detected the Ruwa factory through a public tip-off. Both times, the alert came from the public, not from routine inspection or digital surveillance.
Zimbabwe implemented mandatory pharmaceutical traceability guidelines in July 2025 requiring electronic data-sharing across the supply chain. An unlicensed factory in a residential area falls entirely outside that system, because it is outside the regulated supply chain entirely. That is the gap: policy tools designed to improve a registered system do not reach the unregistered one.
What to do if you have taken these products
MCAZ has urged anyone who purchased or consumed Organicare products to contact the authority directly. MCAZ can be reached through its main lines at +263 242 736381 or by email at mcaz@mcaz.co.zw. The authority has not yet confirmed what specific health risks the substances pose, as laboratory analysis is ongoing, but has stated clearly that the manufacturing environment was unfit for pharmaceutical production and that consumption should stop immediately.
If you have these products, do not continue using them. Contact MCAZ.
