Source: CITE
Gogo Rasta* has become a popular figure on Harare central business district’s bustling downtown streets where she sells small sachets of traditional herbs.
The self-styled herbalist, who refused to disclose her real name and age, operates in one of the busiest sections of the CBD at the intersection of Mbuya Nehanda and Robert Mugabe streets.
Gogo Rasta has a makeshift stall made of cardboard boxes where she spreads her clearly labelled merchandise to attract buyers on the busy streets.
Most of her clients are men searching for libido boosters that are used for treatment of erectile dysfunction that have become a hit in Zimbabwe’s urban areas.
Gogo Rasta, who claimed to have been selling sex-enhancing herbs in Harare for over a decade, said she moved her business to the streets four years ago in response to rising demand.
“I have been selling herbs for over 10 years, but selling from town, I started four years ago after realising that this is where the market is,” she said.
“Most of my male clients are looking for herbs that enhance sexual performance, sperm quality, and the herbal combination we call system cleaner.”.
Some of her fast-moving products include those derived from the mugondorosi tree, which is scientifically known as.
and is native to Zimbabwe’s dry forests.
A middle aged woman, who had a makeshift stall on the same street as Gogo Rasta, said she sourced the herbs on her own and packages them for sale at US$1 per sachet.
“I source these on my own, grind them, and sell most of them at the modest price of a dollar to men of all ages,” the self-taught herbalist said.
Traditionalists believe that the.
tree’s barks and roots have medicinal properties that help to restore sexual vitality without many side effects associated with modern medicine.
Conservationists say the tree is now facing extinction in Zimbabwe due to overharvesting by people using its roots and barks for commercial purposes due to its known properties as a potent aphrodisiac.
An investigation by CITE revealed that Gogo Rasta’s line of business is becoming saturated in the capital’s busy streets as most of the vendors’ primary trade is now the sale of traditional libido enhancers.
