Emmanuel Kafe and Tanyaradzwa Rusike-Check Point Desk
A SYNDICATE involving hospital staff, transporters and informal traders is siphoning off Government-issued birth control pills from Zimbabwean hospitals and clinics, then smuggling them into South Africa, where they are sold “blister by blister” to women seeking affordable and familiar contraception.
The main commodity? A pill known locally as Secure and Control, which is distributed at an affordable rate in Zimbabwe’s public health facilities.
In South Africa, however, it has become gold.
Secure is the brand name for the progesterone-only contraceptive pill, while Control is the brand name for combined oral contraceptive pills.
According to the Zimbabwe National Family Planning Council, the “Pill” is a short-acting hormonal contraceptive taken by a woman daily by mouth at the same time to prevent pregnancy.
A black market for Zimbabwean contraceptive pills is thriving across borders, driven by corruption, desperation and demand.
Responding to the growing contraceptive black market exposed by Check Point, Health and Child Care Permanent Secretary Dr Aspect Maunganidze confirmed that the ministry received complaints in 2022 from Masvingo Provincial Hospital, leading to internal disciplinary action.
“Some staff members were discharged and faced criminal charges, although they were not convicted in court,” said Dr Maunganidze.
He said the ministry has since ramped up efforts to strengthen its supply chain by rolling out an electronic stock management system, now in place at more than 1 000 health facilities.
“We are working to ensure the entire supply chain is more secure,” he Dr Maunganidze said.
National police spokesperson Commissioner Paul Nyathi said while no cases have been reported so far this year, law enforcement will thoroughly investigate the alleged criminal syndicate.
National police spokesperson Commissioner Paul Nyathi
“I can assure you that the police will look into this syndicate. The smuggling of Government-issued medication is strictly prohibited, and smuggling of any kind is not condoned,” he said.
“Police will remain on high alert at all points of entry and exit. If there are any developments, we will certainly inform the public through the media”.
Springs of Life Zimbabwe, an organisation advocating for equal rights, opportunities and empowerment for all women — including sex workers — has condemned the smuggling of contraceptive pills into South Africa, saying the practice is harming ordinary Zimbabwean women.
The organisation’s director, Ms Precious Msindo, urged authorities to take swift action against those involved in the illegal trade.
“It is deeply disturbing to think that fellow women are allegedly behind this syndicate. We call on the authorities to dismantle this cartel and bring the culprits to justice,” she said.
“These pills, which we believe are subsidised by the Government, should never be abused in this way.”
The smuggling operation begins in the very institutions meant to protect women’s health.
In Harare, a 36-year-old nurse, who identified herself only as Sister Prisca at a Polyclinic in Kuwadzana, admitted that she diverts hundreds of blister packs each week.
“The demand is huge,” she said.
“Each week, I set aside 200 to 300 blister packs. They are recorded as dispensed, no one checks. I sell them for a dollar each to the guys who handle the shipments. It’s easy money. The pills are practically free.
“We see the desperation on both sides.
“Yes, they are provided at a nominal fee here, but for us, a dollar per pack is survival money. It puts food on our tables.”
She described handing off the pills to runners — usually at night. The contraband is then consolidated and packed for transport.
The contraceptive pills are provided to hospitals and clinics through the National Pharmaceutical Company of Zimbabwe (Natpharm) and are sold at a very nominal fee whilst in private pharmacies they sell at US$1 for two packs.
At Parirenyatwa Group of Hospitals, a source confirmed that Secure and Control is delivered in bulk from NatPharm.
The stocks, he said, are never meant for resale or export.
Yet the unbridled greed on the part of some hospital workers, combined with growing demand across the border, has turned these pills into black-market currency.
In South Africa, it’s now being sold at double the price on the black market.
The pills are smuggled into South Africa via omalayitsha — informal cross-border transporters who typically ferry groceries, furniture, and parcels between Zimbabwe and South Africa.
Thulani Manda, 43, who has been a malayitsha for over a decade, admits he now carries birth control pills hidden among goods he delivers to Johannesburg.
“I don’t carry drugs or guns,” he said. “Just groceries, people’s things . . . and Secure and Control.
“A small box can carry hundreds of packs. No one at the border checks for pills — they are looking for cigarettes or dagga.”
Manda says he earns an extra R500 to R1 000 per trip smuggling contraceptives, often hiding them under false bag linings or inside food parcels.
Once across the border, the pills are distributed through informal networks in places like Yeoville, Kempton Park, and Rosettenville — areas with dense migrant populations.
Rutendo (surname withheld), 29, a Zimbabwean who lives in Kempton Park and was recently in Zimbabwe, sells the pills from her backyard.
“Many women here cannot afford what clinics give. Oralcon has side effects. But our pills from home? They’re trusted. Even South Africans come to me.”
She buys a box of 54 blister packs for R400 and sells them for up to R800, depending on demand.
“Sometimes I run out in a week,” she said.
Rutendo says she started the trade out of necessity, but now sees it as a service.
“Secure and Control is what we know. We grew up on it. The pills in South Africa are expensive or have side effects. Women would rather buy from someone they trust.”
She added: “I sell to South Africans too. They hear from friends that Zimbabwean pills are ‘softer.’ They pay R25 or R30 per blister without hesitation.”
South Africa’s public hospitals mostly provide Oralcon — a brand several women complain causes nausea, weight gain, or mood swings. With limited options and rising costs at pharmacies, many migrants and even local women turn to the underground market.
A single blister pack of Secure and Control — almost R55 equivalent in Zimbabwe — can cost over R130 in South African pharmacies, if it’s available at all.
“We prefer what we know,” said a Zimbabwean nurse based in Johannesburg. “Women here trust Secure and Control. It’s gentle, it works, and it’s what they’re used to.”
With an estimated 1,5 to 2 million Zimbabweans living in South Africa — many undocumented and young — the need for affordable and discreet birth control remains high.
And so, a pill meant to empower women in Zimbabwe is now enriching corrupt hospital staff, fuelling smuggling operations, and feeding a growing underground market across the Limpopo.
The result: a public health asset is now a black-market commodity — traded in silence, blister by blister, across borders.
The Ministry of Health and Child Care says it has taken steps to tighten controls following reports that hospital staff are smuggling government-issued birth control pills into South Africa.
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