INTRODUCTION
AL JAMA-AH was invited by the Independent Electoral Commission to attend the Pledge Ceremony for the 2011 Municipal Elections. It also attended the 2009 Pledge Ceremony for the national and provincial elections being the only Muslim Political Party to register to contest these elections since 1994.

 This sent a clear signal to South Africa that Muslims are willing to bring about reparations, redress, transformation and addressing the imbalances of the past by means of the ballot box and supports free and fair elections. This has put to rest that Muslims will use violent means.
The late entry of AL JAMA-AH into mainstream politics was largely due to the negotiated settlement between the ANC and the NP that allowed freedom fighters and former oppressors to rule and the absence of reparations and a land grab in the settlement. The fact that Muslim bodies could not unite nationally and put up candidates created mixed feelings. Muslim activists and sell outs favourable to the ANC and NP/ DA did not embrace a Multi Party democracy and wrote off identity politics.

This late entry however signalled the intention of Muslims to share the shariah with lawmakers and that it will campaign to capture the imagination of South African voters to embrace the shariah. South Africa is well placed to be the first country in the world to do so.

 That is the vision of AL JAMA-AH a vision launched by our founding father Sheikh Yusuf of Macassar. This is the legacy every freedom loving Muslim would like to leave behind for the future generation. Twang Guru founder of the first mosque in South Africa wrote the first laws for liberation, freedom and justice crafted in terms of shariah values while incarcerated in chains on Robben Island hot on the heels of the vision of the founder of Islam. Muslims can continue to do so in parliament.
AL JAMA-AH took the lead in contesting national, provincial and municipal elections and continues to contest municipal by-elections. It has put up over 100 candidates Muslim and Christian and has a voting profile in over 2000 voting stations. The Party has two elected public representatives and it has its eye on a total of 100 by the end of the next decade, insha Allah. A vote for AL JAMA-AH will show that Muslims are playing an active part in the political life of the country. This is the Party’s mission.
The AL JAMA-AH Political Party made an election pledge to take the lead to get legal consequences for Muslim marriages after it became clear that while Muslim members of the Project Committee tasked by the government to come up with a Muslim Marriages Bill were sincere in their efforts they were up against formidable activists on the committee pushing for gender rights and members who were hostile to all shariah marriage laws becoming part of the laws of the land. The Bill has again caused an uproar and divided the Muslim community as it is set to change, modify and reshape the shariah. The previous draft of the Bill was put on hold because of the resistance of the Muslim community according to the Parliamentary legal advisor responding to a submission by AL JAMA-AH dealt with by the Joint Constitutional Committee of parliament. The Party asked for cosntituitonal amendments to give effect to section 211(2) of the Constitution which allows for a Specialist Muslim Marraiges Court that was determined by the late Chief Justice Ismail Mohamed.
The AL JAMA-AH policy is based on the determinations of Minister of Justice Dulla Omar and Chief Justice Ismail Mohamed (may Allah grant them the Jannah insha Allah) which the government cannot ignore. The Minister saw jurisdiction being in the hands of a specialist court when South Africa have a single court system replacing the apartheid system in place today. The Chief Justice as a member of the Law Commission of South Africa determined that jurisdiction in Muslim marital matters must be by a Shariah Court headed by a Quadi. He saw no other way. The Party has been ordered by the South Gauteng High Court as a national Muslim political Party to convey the views of its constituency on the Muslim Marriages Bill to the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development which is the first time in the history of the High Court that a Political Party has been so ordered. The Minister has asked for comments and agreed to extend the deadline as was also requested by AL JAMA-AH because of lack of consensus by the Ulema on every provision in the Bill and the Party has done so.

 The Party has also made a submission to Parliament in 2012 for the provision of a Muslim Marriages Court in the Superior Courts Bill – the first time ever the issue of legal consequences for Muslim marriages has been debated in parliament albeit by a portfolio Committee. Resistance to the determination by the late Chief Justice Ismail Mohamed is led by lecturers  the Department of Muslim Personal Law at the University of Cape Town  and largely activists who are  against the gender laws prescribed by the shariah and activists who are gay and lesbian.

AL JAMA-AH’s position is that Muslims should share shariah values with the broader community so that they can embrace Allah’s gender laws and not see it as a threat to the Constitution.

                       
PREPARING FOR THE 2014 ELECTIONS.
FIFTY (50) LAWMAKERS
Our country is set to have its first triple elections in April 2014 on a date to be announced by the President. Voters will get three ballot forms one for their ward, the second for their province and one national vote. AL JAMA-AH wants to field 100 ward candidates each in a dozen municipalities covering all nine provinces. This will give it at least 26 councillors. There is no reason why it should not get at least 2 seats in each province giving it 18 provincial members of parliament. The national parliament is not out of its reach having won a seat only to be withdrawn at the last minute in the 2009 national elections. The aim in 2014 is three national seats and three seats on the National Council of Provinces.
Fifty lawmakers is a great challenge. But then all eligible Muslims must register to vote. Only 9% are presently registered. If 75% (240 000 votes) of registered Muslim vote for AL JAMA-AH fifty lawmakers is within our reach.
APPLICATION TO BE AN AL JAMA-AH LAWMAKER CANDIDATE
1. Complete the membership application form and pay the prescribed membership fee of R15.
2. Complete the candidate application form and pay the prescribed fee of R20. Deadline 1 Septemeber 2012.
Both forms can be found on www.aljama.co.za or sms 0827802573 for copies.

FOR ASSISTANCE TO REGISTER AS A VOTER SMS 0827802573

AL  JAMA-AH has now contested this ward four(4) times and will continue to do so until it wins the Ward insha Allah. It contested it for the first time in a by-election in 2008, in the 2009 national elections, in the 2011 municipal elections and now in the 2012 by-elections. This is the first ward the Party has contested since its founding and must be won one day insha Allah. There are 3000 Muslims eligible  to vote in this ward.

Like in the recent Lavender Hill by-election another gang infested human settlement the AL JAMA-AH political Party doubled its votes showing an upward trend in support for the Party.

Just before the polls closed the Party fed 500 kids their only hot meal of the day. A cavalcade of the Party led by trumpeters and drums rocked Manenberg before and after Maghrieb. Hundreds of residents joined in the march down “die laan.” The crowd expressed their anger for 18 years of neglect by the DA and other Parties and tore down their posters which led to a complaint to the IEC.  The DA table was stormed maybe a sign that the Arab Spring has hit maneneberg.  Party stalwart Nadeem Peters apologised for their behaviour.

The Party will start an AL JAMA-AH Beitul Maal in “die laan” and tons of food for distribution is on its way to Party Headquarters in Cape Town. This ward has been wrecked by its councillors for the past 18 years and this will not change easily. Manenberg needs more university and college students, areas around schools should be cleaned and residents want an old age home as children neglect their elderly parents.

The Party’s postion is that halaal vendors like the MJC and SANHA are not the statutary authority to deal with contraventions and transgressions of the “Foodstuffs Act OF 1972″. This is the responsibilty of municipalities and its Department of Health. This authority has been delegated by the Department of Agriculture especially contraventions of the regulations in section 1 of R146 relating to relabelling of foodstuffs. Municipalities must act against misrepresentations. If found guilty the Municipality has to issue a sanction to the offender which includes confiscation of the product and closing down the business.

No Halaal vendor like the MJC and SANHA has the clout or capacity to deal with outfits like Orion Cold Storage. They dont have the know – how to do for example “species tests”. Relabelling to dupe consumers to eat Pork is an international phenomenon. In China dozens of Walmart supermarkets were closed down for trying to dupe consumers. In South Africa relabelling and changing expiry dates on food products is widespread. Halaal certification has severe limitations and the onus is on Muslim butchers to ensure that what they sell is halaal. Waving a halaal certificate is not good enough. Consumers buy their chicken and meat from the butcher and not the halaal vendor. Municipalities must act firmly against food relabelling contraventions.

The bread hero of South Africa Imraan Mukuddam who took on the bread cartels making it more possible for the 40 million poor South Africans to buy bread cheaper pulled off another major feat as a consumer activist to improve halaal compliance standards. He is the one Muslim who most probably has the deepest respect and love for the Ulema and is certainly not anti establishment. His son learnt his Hifz in the company of the sons of the most senior Ulema of the MJC. What is amazing is that while exerting pressure he collaborated with MJC spin doctors and staged the progressve steps the MJC took to hold a press conference, agree to an ETV interview, hold a radio public question and answer session and a public meeting where it apologised. What is more amazing is that he got the support of Muslim activists and political leaders and councillors in the City of Cape Town Dr Wasfie Hassiem and Cllr Ganief Hendricks all from a broad spectrum of opinion supportive and hostile to some MJC policies.

At a pre khutba talk at the Strand mosque the town that is home to MJC Ulema who issues its fatwas he won the hearts of the Jamaa with the humble explanation of his role as a consumer activist. Joining him was Cllr Ganief Hendricks who laid down the AL JAMA-AH policy on halaal standards which comply with the 10 rules that apply to the institution of Thabah as set out by the most senior Mufti’s of the land. The local Imam Sheikh Nazeem read the MJC apology concluding the Juma-ah which must count as the most historical khutba’s ever in the Strand following trends in Tunisia and Egypt showing people power.

With the apology in place and the promised MJC 4 point plan including setting up a body of experts to monitor MJC Halaal processes Imraan and Cllr Ganief asked the Jamaa to give the MJC the opportunity to fix the lapses of the MJC Halaal Trust. There was now no reason to continue to put more pressure on the MJC.

Just like halaal certifying bodies fail to work together so will the captains of the Muslim meat and chicken industry to resolve the crisis arising out of the Orion Pork scandal says Cllr Ganief Hendricks Party leader of AL JAMA-AH. Protecting their turf and their business interests counts more than the holy institution of Thabah and shariah slaughtering laws.

Leading Muslim butchers feel that their responsiblity ends when they pay their registration fees with one or more halaal certifying authorities and then for other services rendered. Damage to the repution of any halaal certifying authority does not concern them.

While the meeting set down in a City of Cape Town Boardroom in Paul Sauer Building could not take place as planned over a period of six weeks by City secretarial staff Cllr Hendricks moved to get the information he wanted. Butchers made themselves available for telephonic interviews on the day and he had to cut short some of the interviews to accommodate other butchers. When a butcher heard the collective meeting of butchers was no longer on the cards they met the Councillor on a one on one basis. Busy Corner Meat Wholesalers owners on hearing their rivals were not attending at the last minute asked for an hour postponement and then for a time next week. They eventually agreed to a meeting at their premises in the farmlands of Lansdowne later the afternoon which took place and invited a major chicken wholesaler Farm Fresh to the meeting. Farm Fresh complained that a dozen other interest groups were doing the same thing and were indifferent to concerns raised as were others at the meeting. They felt the halaal certifying authority must alone take responsibilty but will stand with them. They however did not mind taking them on overseas visits to increase the number of suppliers of cheap halaal certified meat.

None of the butchers felt their brand was damaged by the scandals. Their turnover was also not affected indicating while there was an uproar Muslims continued to buy from them and did not even bother to question them on their halaal status. Busy Corner continued to move nearly 200 tons of meat and poor Muslims continued to buy imported cheap meat and chicken.

The Councillor extended a further invite to diving and ducking butchers like Shoukets, Dawoods Butchery and their suppliers and Excellent Meat Market and others to meet with him so that the Party’s voters and the Muslim public can know whether they ever bought meat and chicken from Orion Cold Storage and sold it to the hundreds of butchers Muslims buy from and whether they sold imported meat and chicken and whether they are prepared to take full responsibilty for halaal compliance.

Some of the responses of the Dhansay owners of Busy Corner gave some hope for the future. Cllr Ganief Hendricks handed the butchers with a copy of the Party’s halaal standards and asked them to heed Mufti A.K. Hoosains fatwa that imported meat and chicken should be banned.