Tension over the fake halaal scandal descended into violence, threats and abusive language on Tuesday.
Scuffles broke out outside the offices of the Muslim Judicial Council (MJC) at a press conference in Cashel Avenue, Athlone.
The rare move by the MJC was a desperate attempt by the body to clear its name in the wake of a recent damning TV exposé.
But it soon descended into chaos when members of the public clashed with sheikhs and their security.
Protestors demanded answers for the debacle involving the Orion Cold Storage company from the “religious authority of Muslims in South Africa”.
“MJC come out, or do you have swine flu. We want a public apology for letting us eat pork,” one elderly man shouted at clerics barricaded behind steel gates topped with electric wire.
Some senior clerics responded with foul and abusive language.
At one point, senior MJC cleric Sheikh Irfaan Abrahams shouted “f*** you” at a pensioner.
Out in the street, several scuffles broke out between members of the public and MJC security guards as emotions ran high.
One burly MJC official threatened to punch Muslim watchdog Hajj Watch’s Jakes Rawat as the official forcefully removed placards from protestors.
Rawat later wrote on the MJC’s Facebook page: “The picket outside shows how we deal with dissent and differences of opinion. The MJC gatekeepers were rude, brash and chased off picketers. The threat 15 picketers posed ensured that they were threatened violence and language unbecoming of a Muslim. Point made.”
At about 12pm, three police cars rocked up at the scene.
They warned protestors that their gathering was illegal and that they would be arrested if they didn’t leave.
“People asked for water and the security guards became aggressive,” Imraahn Mukaddam of the National Consumer Forum tells the Daily Voice.
Mukaddam – who was not allowed into the press conference despite writing a consumer publication read by more than 100 000 people – said the group plans to launch a consumer boycott in three months’ time.
“The bottom line is that we want to establish a single national halaal authority that resides under an act of parliament so that the profiteering of Brand Islam can stop,” he says.
At an invite-only press conference, 3rd Degree questioned the ability of the MJC to ensure halaal products are properly monitored.
The team from e.tv discovered the controversial Cape Town-based meat company, Orion, had tampered with halaal products after they had been certified by MJC officials at the docks.
“I need to bring to your attention the fact that despite the fact that the imports are sealed and shrink-wrapped, they do open the pallets,” Friedman says.
“I saw frozen meat open. Many importers break down the pallets to repack it in smaller batches and that opens a big loophole that needs to be addressed. From what we saw, there was definite contamination.”
The MJC’s Moulana Abdul Fattag Carr admitted this is a problem area.
But MJC president Moulana Igsaan Hendricks vowed to eradicate any “loopholes” to prevent a repeat of the debacle.
“If there are loopholes – and no one must think a criminal will not find a way to bypass all normal standards – it must be taken seriously and closed immediately,” he says.
But this was not enough to placate the protestors.
Imam Muhamad Fataagh of the Darul Ulema in Mitchell’s Plain says people’s anger with the MJC’s incompetence is justified – and not un-Islamic.
“We want them to admit they have messed up, apologise and then disband,” he demands.
“Kibr [arrogance] is tantamount to kuffaar [disbelief] and we see kibr in abundance in this building.”
*This article was published in the Daily Voice