Cape Town - The row between the Good party and the DA over the City of Cape Town’s new noise nuisance by-laws affecting the Islamic call to prayer, the adhan, has been escalated to the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC).
DA Western Cape leader Albert Fritz has lodged an official complaint with the IEC in which he said the Good party intentionally sought to spread false information as part of their election campaign by claiming that the City had criminalised the Islamic call to prayer.
“We call on the IEC to take strong and urgent action against Good and its mayoral candidate Brett Herron in terms of the part of the Electoral Act that specifically deals with intentional false statements.
“This section states that no person may publish any false information with the intention of disrupting or preventing an election or creating hostility or fear in order to influence the conduct or outcome of an election. The IEC should do what is right and sanction Good,” said Fritz.
The controversy arose on Wednesday after DA councillors used their majority to push through the controversial amendments to the Streets, Public Places and Prevention of Noise Nuisances by-law and Herron issued a statement saying the amendments failed to honour a commitment made by the DA in 2019, to exempt the adhan and ringing of church bells from the definition of noise nuisance.
Outgoing Cape Town Mayor Dan Plato reacted to Herron and said the City had not broken its word.
“These amendments are not relevant to the call to prayer whatsoever. The City has never silenced a single mosque in Cape Town, nor does the streets by-law allow for this.
“In time to come, further sections of the by-law will undergo review, and there will be ample opportunity for public input on how these can best serve all residents in Cape Town and the diverse needs of communities.
“I called Moulana Shaykh Allie, first-deputy president of the Muslim Judicial Council (MJC), to set the record straight following the lies being spread by the Good party,” said Plato.
On Thursday Herron stuck by his guns and said Plato was splitting hairs. He admitted that Plato was correct in that the amendments do not criminalise or outlaw the adhan.
“The amendments don’t deal with noise nuisance at all, leaving the adhan and church bells vulnerable to further noise nuisance complaints.
“There is no reasonable explanation for the DA’s failure to address the noise nuisance sections of the by-law since they were busy with drafting amendments. There is no reasonable explanation for why this must wait until next year,” said Herron.
Muslim Judicial Council (MJC) secretary-general Shaykh Zaid Dantie said: “We are very concerned about the adhan and the City’s new noise nuisance by-law.”
He said the classification is offensive to all religions who have calls to prayer of one type or another and we want all religious groups to be exempted from the by-law
“In April when the City called for public comment on the by-law we had an open and frank discussion with Safety and Security Portfolio Committee chairperson Mzwakhe Nqavashe (DA).
“We told him our fear was that this by-law would put even more stringent rules in place but he assured us that though the by-law did not specifically mention religious practices, they would not be affected.
“The proof, however, is in the pudding and we’ll be observing how things go very closely. If it becomes a problem, we will engage with the City again,” said Dantie.
In 2019 Zeenatul Islam Mosque in Muir Street, District Six was the focus of noise complaints against the call to prayer.
When the mosque committee appealed to the City, the City carried out its own scientific test which showed that the sound level of the adhan fell within the accepted decibel measure as set out by the by-law.
An independent online petition in support of the mosque was signed by more than 100 000 people.