MCC registrar Mandisa Hela confirmed that they had not registered the concoction which is being sold as a cure and an immune booster for people living with HIV/AIDS.

Hela dismissed claims that were reported to have been made by Zeblon Gwala the manufacture of Ubhejane about his concoction being registered with the council.

‘€œUbhejane is not registered and anyone who says it is registered is telling a lie,’€ Hela told Health-e.

Hela said there were other processes taking place to determine whether Ubhejane could be registered. She maintained that those claiming otherwise were wrong.

A report that appeared in Business Report on June, 22 quoted Gwala claiming Ubhejane was registered with the council.

Fidel Hadebe spokesperson for health department also rubbished the claims.

‘€œContrary to reports in the media recently regarding the registration of Ubhejane, the Department of Health would like to put it on record that this product has not been registered with the MCC,’€ said Hadebe.

He said Gwala had lodged a request with the council for his medicine to be registered but the registration process had not been finalised.

He warned Gwala and others involved in the manufacturing and sale of Ubhejane to refrain from making false claims as no registration certificate had been issued to support this.

The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) said there was no evidence supporting claims that Ubhejane offered any benefit to those infected with HIV.

They said the document Gwala might have claimed was a registration certificate could have been an acknowledgement of a submission of information to the MCC in terms of a 2002 notice related to complementary and alternative medicines (CAMS).   In an effort to audit CAMS the council requested manufactures to submit information about their medicines that fell under this category.

However this directive was being abused by charlatans who continued to submit and make false claims about their concoctions although the directive had been abandoned by the council.

TAC called on the health department’€™s law enforcement unit to launch an investigation into Gwala for making the claims. They also called for the MCC to speed up the verification process and for Business Report to print a correction.