Eastern Cape villagers are making a kill from Umhlonyane a local herb which is used in the Madagascar Covid – Organics remedy. The herb known as Umhlonyane or African wormwood is the main ingredient of the Madagascar Covid-19 cure.
Umhlonyane is one of the oldest locally available widely used indigenous herbs in Southern Africa and is found in mountains and recently home gardens.
The herb is known for helping to clear the respiratory tract and is used to treat a wide range of ailments from coughs, colds, fever, loss of appetite and colic to headaches, earache, intestinal worms and, notably, malaria. It can be inhaled and its extracts can be used in a full body wash.
Umhlonyane gain popularity among locals when SA Federation of Trade Unions general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi who recovered from Covid-19 used it as a home remedy. Posting on social media, Vavi claimed that he used both traditional medicine and pharmaceutical drugs in his fight against the virus. Vavi encouraged South Africans to embrace traditional medicine which has worked for the previous generations.
South Africans cash in on Umhlonyane, Madagascar Covid-19 cure herbs
In Eastern Cape, Four cousins — Sibongile Mvubu, Masilinde Pasiya, Mzodumo Makhuphula, and Thulani Ncanywa of Ndabakazi Komkhulu village near Butterworth are vendors of the herb.
They revealed that they saw a business opportunity after hearing comments from radio that umhlonyane assists in calming COVID-19.
The cousins were inspired by the Madagascar Covid – Organics story which they believed that it’s a ray of hope for long and forgotten African traditional medicine. They have ever since changed their routine from the day they started selling umhlonyane herbs.
“Since we started selling umhlonyane on April 22, we wake as early as 5am and go and collect fresh herbs down in the forest and then go to spots along the N2 where we sell it. I have been using umhlonyane for many years, so have my parents, like our ancestors. This is the first time we have sold it.”
Averagely they make R 1 700 per day but revenue have been decreasing since the market is now flooded by other local vendors.
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