HIJAB ban for nurses

Al Jama-ah Party says it supports the views of the Islamic Medical Association (IMA) that the proposed headscarf ban for nurses ‘feels like an attack on our belief.’

The party’s leader and Member of Parliament Hon Ganief Hendricks who serves on the Portfolio Committee on Health, has asked the Committee to engage with the SA Nursing Council to explain why the health department is proposing to ban nurses from wearing the hijab (headscarf) or ‘doekie’ as commonly known.

“We see this as a direct attack on Islam and on those liberation movements whose fighters wore the doekie in the trenches. The doekie is not an adornment but part of Muslims’ religious identity. Why should our ‘freedom’ be restricted by individuals who cannot see the bigger picture and who impose regulations that hinder and clip our freedom?” says Hendricks.

Hendricks calls on the health department to take note of the South African National Defence Force’s regulations on dress code which allows its female staff to wear the headscarf.