Unregistered healing pastors and spirit mediums face arrest, imprisonment

 

The Traditional Medical Practitioners Council of Zimbabwe (TMPCZ) has directed all traditional healers and faith healers to be registered for them to continue practising.

This follows a directive by the Ministry of Health and Child Care that faith healers and herbalists from both churches and traditional religion must obtain licences for their operations.

In a recent statement, TMPCZ directed unregistered Traditional Health Practitioners to register in their respective provinces. Reads the statement:

The Traditional Medical Practitioners Council of Zimbabwe (TMPCZ) hereby gives notice to all unregistered Traditional Health Practitioners to go and register in their respective provinces. The required categories are:

1. Traditional Healers/Faith Healers, including Prophets and Apostles/Bishops/Traditional Birth Attendants/Spirit Mediums

2. Churches

3. Local and Foreign Traditional Medical Associations

4. Associations representing all categories of different practitioners

5. Herbalists/Herbal Gardens/Traditional Wholesalers/Shops

6. Distributors/Manufacturers of Traditional Medicine

7. Traditional Surgeries/Clinics

8. Training Institutions

The council kindly informs Practitioners that it is a legal requirement to register with the TMPCZ in terms of the Traditional Medical Practitioners Act Chapter 27:14 (Act 38/1981, 6/2000(s. 151), 22/2001 (s. 4), 14/2022 (s. 42)).

Chapter 27:14 Part VI Section 31 stipulates that a person who practices or carries the business as a traditional medical practitioner without being registered is liable to a fine not exceeding (US$400.00) or imprisonment for a period not exceeding two years or to both such fine and such imprisonment.

Traditional Medical Practitioners Council of Zimbabwe is a public entity under the purview of the Ministry of Health and Child Care.

We expect that by the end of March 2023, all legal abiding practitioners will have paid their practicing licenses.