PRETORIA, Gauteng — As organized criminal syndicates increasingly flood the South African market with fake medicines, the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) is launching a massive public education blitz. Mokgadi Fafudi, SAHPRA’s regulatory compliance manager, emphasized that consumer vigilance is the most critical defense against the illicit trade of substandard and falsified lifestyle and chronic medications.
The scale of the crisis is staggering. The wider illicit economy drains an estimated R700 billion from South Africa’s GDP annually, with regulators estimating that up to 15% of the fast-moving consumer goods market is currently illicit or non-compliant. The black market heavily targets high-demand health items, including weight-loss injections, antibiotics, painkillers, and life-saving HIV medication.
Fafudi acknowledged that policing this unregulated market is a daunting, near-impossible task due to limited regulatory resources. Consequently, the primary responsibility lies with consumers to make informed, safe choices about where they source their health products.
To help the public identify dangerous products, Fafudi highlighted several immediate red flags. Injectables should never be purchased or administered in non-healthcare settings such as gyms, beauty salons, bars, IV bars, or home-based aesthetic facilities. Any injectable is classified as at least a Schedule 3 substance, meaning it legally requires a valid prescription and must be administered by an authorized healthcare professional.
Furthermore, Fafudi stressed that no legitimate medicines should be sold online. Informal traders and local “T-shops” may only be trusted for general, mild health improvements, such as treating a moderate headache, but should never be sources for body-altering, enhancing, or curative products.
While the National Consumer Commission works on implementing South Africa’s first track-and-trace system under the Consumer Protection Act, SAHPRA is actively driving a national action plan launched last year. This multi-stakeholder forum unites police, educators, supply chain stakeholders, healthcare professionals, consumer representative groups, and businesses. The collaborative effort aims to dismantle the illicit market, remove unauthorized products through punitive measures, and ensure patients know how to safely access approved medicines.
When addressing the origins of these counterfeit drugs, Fafudi explained that syndicates often import active pharmaceutical ingredients using false customs declarations. They subsequently manufacture the fake medicines locally in unregulated backyard operations before distributing them via unlicensed online platforms, social media, and cross-border courier services. This decentralized distribution makes the products highly difficult to trace.
Because of these challenges, SAHPRA relies heavily on market surveillance monitoring and alerts from healthcare professionals and the public to investigate these networks. Fafudi urged the public to verify the authorization of any healthcare facility before seeking treatment. She also strongly encouraged individuals to report any adverse events or suspicious products to SAHPRA, even if the items were initially purchased through illegal or unverified channels.
“People must be on the alert,” Fafudi stated, warning that consuming unverified injectables can lead to severe health risks, including bloodborne contamination and hospitalization. “When it comes to your health, you cannot inject what you do not even know what it is, and you cannot assume that what is written on the labeling is correct.”
