The Presidency was responding to attorney Zehir Omar representing the Mujlisul Ulama of South Africa who threatened to approach the courts in a bid to challenge the national lockdown regulations prohibiting large groups from attending daily prayers.

The Majlis through attorney Omar issued a letter to the Presidency, asking that the regulations be relaxed, as they have been for the taxi industry.

In a statement the Presidency says Ramaphosa consulted a number of leaders from religious communities before the measures were taken.

“The consequences expressed at these meetings from leaders of all faiths was that adherence to lockdown regulations was necessary for the greater good despite the sacrifices that this would require South Africans to make.”

The presidency says the Secretary General of the Jamiatul Ulama South Africa Ml Ebrahim Bham also expressed support for the measures that government chose to take including the need to ensure congregations were either suspended or minimized to ensure social distancing.

The presidency also says the Islamic medical association has expressed that the letter by Majlis is not a representation of the majority of Muslims in South Africa.

“We fully appreciate that being unable to worship at a mosque is a great sacrifice being made by the Muslim community. It is however similar to the sacrifices being made by not just by adherents to other faiths, but by other Muslims around the world.”

The Presidency says in light of the serious risk to public health that all forms of communal worship would pose, it’s unable to acquiesce to Majlis’s demand.

Faizel Patel 

(Twitter: @FaizelPatel143)