By Warda Meyer
The Muslim Judicial Council (MJC) will not grant any divorces until the end of this month, because the guidelines and checks relating to the issuing of these decrees are "inadequate".
MJC deputy president Sheik Achmat Sedick said he had placed a moratorium on all talaq and faskh issued by the MJC until the end of January.
A faskh is a decree granted by a judge to a woman who applies for her marriage to be dissolved based on her husband's failings. A faskh dissolves a marriage immediately.
A talaq is the right of a husband to terminate his marriage.
"It has become clear that there are inadequate guidelines and checks in place when it comes to granting a talaq," Sedick said.
The issue of divorces had seen the MJC being dragged to court by aggrieved parties on several occasions last year, he said.
In one case, the Cape High Court had ruled that a Century City woman, who was married in terms of Islamic law, was entitled to claim interim personal maintenance from her husband. She had wanted to divorce her husband in terms of the Divorce Act.
Sedick said the legal actions being instituted against the MJC had "tarnished" the Muslim community.
"This issue should be resolved within the Islamic system.
"That system must be fair and just for everyone - it is ultimately what we are now trying to do," he said.
"We want to make the process as universal as possible."
Sedick said the MJC was getting its house in order and moving towards consolidating the issue of when and how a talaq and faskh would be issued.
"You cannot have people going from one imam to another because the one will quickly grant a talaq while the other will not.
"The criteria must be the same to prevent people from taking legal action against the council," he added.
Sedick said the MJC would speak to imams about how the new process should work.
"We also plan to put a stronger focus on reconciliation in a bid to make sure that everything possible is being done to first save a marriage before dissolving it," he added.
Sedick asked people who had been waiting for their talaq or faskh to be completed, to be patient while the MJC considered how it could refine its processes.
He said people would have to wait until the end of this month to ensure that due process had been followed before the marriages were dissolved.