11 hours agoLawsuit seeks to overturn the Medicines Bill of 2025

On February 17, 2026, a formal statutory notice was served on the government, signaling the launch of a constitutional challenge against the Medicines and Related Substances Act (MRSA) and the recently enacted Medicines and Related Substances Bill of 2025. The notice, issued by Victor Shabani acting both personally and as a trustee for The Eternal Foundation, targets the Attorney General, the Ministry of Health, and the Botswana Medicines Regulatory Authority (BoMRA). At the heart of the challenge lies a claim that the 2025 Medicines Bill was enacted through a procedural ambush.

“In breach of Section 3 and Section 11 of the Constitution, the scheme violates the right to life, human dignity, and bodily autonomy by criminalizing natural healthcare and nutritional pathways, and by imposing a state of forced dependency on allopathic and pharmaceutical healthcare paths that are currently failing the nation,” Shabani asserted. He further contended that the bill infringes upon the principle of constitutional supremacy and Section 86 of the Constitution. He argued that the primary legislative framework, the MRSA and the 2025 Bill, and the Ministry of Health’s policies overstep state authority by encroaching on fundamental rights and freedoms enshrined as the supreme law of the Republic.

“In breach of Section 8 of the Constitution, the scheme permits arbitrary interference with the possession and use of natural remedies and solutions, which constitutes an unconstitutional deprivation of property at a time when the nation’s public health systems are in distress,” Shabani added. The notice further alleges that the bill violates Section 12 of the Constitution by suppressing the freedom to receive and communicate ideas and knowledge related to natural healthcare choices, nutritional options, and nutritional accountability, a legislated and enforced Knowledge Blackout. “In breach of Section 15 of the Constitution, the scheme and the Bill are discriminatory, both in their text and in their effect, by affording different treatment to natural healthcare practitioners and consumers based on their creed or beliefs, thereby subjecting them to restrictions and disabilities while according privileges and advantages to allopathic and pharmaceutical practitioners,” the notice states.

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The applicants argue that the government failed to observe the mandatory 30-day notice period for publication in the Gazette, a procedural lapse they claim violates constitutional due process as well as the Standing Orders of the National Assembly. Shabani intends to seek over 40 specific orders from the High Court, grouped into broad categories of relief. He is requesting interim protection and condonation, urging the court to hear the matter as one of urgency.

The applicants are asking for a stay of enforcement and interim immunity for the Natural Healthcare sector under both the MRSA and the 2025 Bill until the case is resolved. Among the sought remedies is a Final Declaratory and Jurisdictional Relief, which includes a declaration that the decision to introduce the 2025 Bill is void ab initio due to procedural failures. They also seek to have particular provisions of the MRSA declared unconstitutional and to establish a legal mandate for a Dual-Track and Plural System of Healthcare.

Shabani is asking the courts to declare unconstitutional the arrests, detentions, and seizures of natural health products since January 2023. He also calls for the formation of a Restitution Evaluation Committee, vindicatory compensation for financial losses, and a formal public apology from the State.

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