Antony Chawagarira
HARARE — Yadah Hotel, owned by PHD Ministries founder Prophet Walter Magaya, has been acquitted of charges involving the alleged possession of unregistered medicines after the State failed to establish a link between the hotel and the drugs recovered from one of its rooms.
The hotel faced two counts under the Medicines and Allied Substances Control Act relating to the alleged possession of unregistered medicines and unregistered complementary medicines.
Represented by Donald Makuvaza, the hotel denied the allegations and, through its lawyer Malvern Mapako of Rubaya and Chatambudza Legal Practitioners, applied for a discharge at the close of the State’s case.
The court subsequently found that the State had failed to establish a sufficient connection between the hotel and the medicines recovered during a police search.
The State’s case was that on November 1, 2025, detectives from CID Headquarters in Harare received information that Yadah Hotel in Waterfalls had unregistered and unapproved complementary medicines.
The detectives proceeded to the hotel, identified themselves, and conducted a door-to-door search.
During the search, they allegedly recovered various medicines from an unoccupied room, including Cotrimoxazole tablets, Fluconazole tablets, and Liposomal Liquid Glutathione, also known as Pure Drops.
Other items allegedly recovered included Liver Care Detox Complementary Natural Medicine and High Purity Methane Inflammation Opti-MSM (Methylsulfonylmethane).
The detectives also reportedly found Compounded Prescription Weekly forms indicating the dispensing and administration of some medicines to a person identified as Happiness Mavindire.
However, in its ruling, the court held that the State had not sufficiently linked the recovered medicines to Yadah Hotel, noting that the premises had previously been owned by others.
The court further found that there was no evidence from the relevant medicines regulator confirming that the substances recovered were not regulated in Zimbabwe.
The ruling resulted in the hotel being cleared of the charges, bringing the case against the premises to an end.
