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.

MUSLIM MEAT WHOLESALERS:

HALAAL CERTIFIERS:

MUSLIM BUTCHERS:

SUPPORT FOR ISLAMIC PARTIES GROWING

Party leader and campaign manager Ganief Hendricks is upbeat about the Party’s prospects to increase its support tenfold after wrapping up an intensive campaign for Muslim support in the polls.Voters have realised that the DA and before them the ANC cannot deliver and even clean their streets properly. The drug trade has flourished since the DA put in place a negotiated a ceasefire between rival gangs. Voters want change as their life prospects are so bad they want a military township. The broader community supports this position.

In the 2011 municipal elections Muslim voters gave the DA a landslide 86% victory and said a definate no to the ANC. This is set to change in the by-election to be held on Wednesday 18 January 2012 in Lavender Hill, Steenberg and Retreat. AL JAMA-AH’S ward candidate is Mugammad Yasien Abderoef.

To build a successful National Muslim Political Party and to get Muslims to play an active role in the political life of the country has been no easy task for veteran community leader Ganief Hendricks. But he said ” I had the same challenges when I embarked on establishing the the first national Muslim student body in South Africa. I convened the MSA conference and was its first PRO but had to take the leadership role for seven years as elected officials dropped out or left university. Seven years of firm leadership paid dividends and today after 42 years the MSA is stil making an impact in the lives of Muslim students.”

Getting a community broadcasting licence was not easy but Ganief appeared seven(7) times before ICASA annually to state the case prepared by radio stalwarts Allie Adams, Dr Fagmie Williams, Fatima Haron, Hamza Essack, Noor Moerat,Kader Jacobs, Salie Mohamed and Robben Islander Imam Achmat Cassiem. Radio 786 is now a multi million rand outfit after getting its permanent licence at Ganief’s 7th presentation to ICASA.

Three years after registering the AL JAMA-AH Political Party indications are that many more years of hard work is in the pipeline.