HARARE – Police on Wednesday night launched raids on properties owned by the controversial preacher Walter Magaya, just days after he claimed he had discovered the cure for HIV and cancer.
The police raids were to locate and seize samples of pills, capsules and sachets containing the “Aguma immune booster”, which Magaya claimed last Sunday can cure HIV if used for 14 days.
It was not clear if Magaya or his Indian associates with whom he launched the claimed cure, had been arrested.
Police spokesman Chief Superintendent Paul Nyathi said: “I can confirm that Magaya is assisting police with investigations in connection with enquiries the ZRP is currently conducting.
“It is the duty of the police to detect, investigate and prevent crime and this is precisely what we are doing.”
Deputy Information Minister Energy Mutodi said on Twitter: “I can confirm police this evening raided Prophet Walter Magaya offices to recover samples of his Aguma medicine which he claims cures HIV. The raid marks the start of an investigation into this matter. Health experts say there is no cure yet.”
Starting Sunday, the alleged cure was being sold on a website for Aretha Medical, the company Magaya set up to market the discovery and sell the cure. A 14-day course of the medicine sold for as much as US$1,000.
But by Tuesday, the website had gone into “maintenance” mode, as Magaya came under attack from the medical profession and even the United Nations World Health Organisation (WHO) for failing to follow accepted procedures for testing and registering new medicines.
Magaya claimed his cure had been “scientifically proven”, while also admitting that it had been trialed on human beings, which has further alarmed officials.
HIV was first discovered in the United States in 1981 but so far a cure has remained elusive, although researchers have come up with a range of anti-retroviral drugs to suppress the virus which can cause AIDS.
The disease has killed millions of people, with an estimated 36 million currently infected, most of them in Africa.
In as statement on Wednesday, the WHO said: “The United Nations wish to reaffirm that to date, there is no known and proven cure for HIV infection, but effective treatment exists to manage the infection through antiretroviral therapy and drugs.
“Zimbabwe has very well-established procedures for clinical trials. Clinical trials are the process by which any new medical approaches including drugs are rigorously evaluated to determine whether they are safe and effective in the prevention and/or treatment of any ailments.
“The United Nations in Zimbabwe wishes to remind and encourage any researchers involved in developing possible new treatments for any ailments, including HIV and AIDS to subject these to the Ministry of Health and Child Care (MOHCC) national clinical trial processes and procedures.”
In front of a cheering congregation at his church in Harare, the Prophetic Healing and Deliverance Ministries on Sunday, Magaya said God had led him to a plant called Aguma, which is found in Zimbabwe, two years ago.
The herb was the main component of a drug later developed with Indian partners which had been proved to be a cure of HIV, he claimed without providing evidence.
