Umamah Bakharia | ub@radioislam.co.za

2 min read
16 November 2022 | 09:00 CAT

The South African Hajj & Umrah Council – SAHUC has opened its ‘dynamic application portal’, which indicates an applicant’s ‘position in the queue’.

That is the word from SAHUC’s president, Shaheen Essop, as he outlines the process of applications with Radio Islam International.

“This queue is dynamic in nature, so whilst they are still queries having to be dealt with, and payments that need to be updated or mahram links that need to be done – it will affect people’s position in the queue either up or down as the result of these queries,” says Essop.

Photo credit: Vox

According to SAHUC, this will “sanitise the process or reduce the number of accreditation lists that we [SAHUC] put out as a quota as recieved for South Africa from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.”

Following the ease of the Covid-19 restrictions, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia says it is ready to receive pilgrims for Umrah and Hajj by reducing its pilgrim intake quota worldwide.

So far, nearly two million pilgrims worldwide have arrived in Saudi Arabia to perform the pilgrimage during the current Umrah season.

“They have done away with all vaccinations, PCR requirements, and also they have [increased] the age limit, which was 65 for Umrah,” says Essop.

Currently, the quota for Hajj in South Africa is 2 500 pilgrims.

Listen to the full interview with SAHUC’s president, Shaheen Essop.