Cape Town - There was outrage among religious groups and civil society on Tuesday when a Muslim woman who is member of the SANDF appeared before the Court of Military Justice at the Castle of the Good Hope for wearing a headscarf underneath her formal military beret.
Headscarves are seen as a sign of modesty as well as a symbol of religious faith.
Brigadier-General Mafi Mgobozi, the SANDF’s director of Defence Corporate Communication, said Major Fatima Isaacs, who works as a clinical forensic pathologist at 2 Military Hospital in Wynberg, was charged with “wilful defiance, and disobeying a lawful command”.
The matter was postponed to August 7.
Nazeema Mohamed, a social justice advocate and consultant who is advising Isaacs on her case, said: “The issue is not so much about the headscarf, but more about discrimination and we are prepared to take it to the highest court if we have to. There is already a precedent in the case of the Muslim woman who took the Department of Correctional Services to court in a similar matter.
“Isaacs has been working in the military for nearly 10 years and her headscarf has never really been a problem before. It only became so when a certain colonel took over as her line manager and harassed her about wearing the scarf, even though it does not get in the way of any military rankings or insignia.”
According to Mohamed, the senior officer presented Isaacs with a final written warning before escalating the matter to “a Section 29 process before a military court judge who read her her rights. I am not a lawyer so I couldn’t argue on her behalf, I am technically just there as an observer. However, Isaacs requested that she be allowed her own private legal team to defend her when the case starts in August.”
Mohammed said the Muslim Judicial Council has provided Isaacs with resources to set up a legal challenge.
“The Constitution and the Bill of Rights apply to the SANDF too, and they must not forget that.”
According to Muslim custom, women are required to cover the shape of their bodies. In the case that Mohamed mentioned as a precedent, the Correctional Services officer, Fairouz Adams, was suspended with full pay after reporting for work wearing her khaki uniform skirt and shirt, with the shirt not tucked in, and a khaki headscarf which is not part of the official uniform.
Michael Swain, executive director of Freedom of Religion South Africa (For SA) said: “The SANDF’s refusal to allow the Muslim woman major to wear her headscarf may well violate her right to religious freedom.
“In the Pillay case in 2007 (involving a Hindu pupil’s right to wear a nose stud as an expression of her faith), the Constitutional Court found the school had a duty to accommodate her religious beliefs insofar as they did not impose an undue burden on the school and despite the fact wearing the stud infringed the school’s uniform policy regarding jewellery.
“On this basis, it is arguable that the SANDF has a duty to accommodate the Muslim major’s religious beliefs.”
Isaacs, who is unmarried and lives in Bridgetown, funded her own
education and, according to Mohammed, “wears her uniform with pride. The judge wanted to know whether the headscarf was part of the military dress code, but that will now be argued in August”.
SANDF general dress regulations (in part) state: “The beret’s binding should be placed two fingers above the highest point of the eyebrows, having both fingers and the eyebrows un-obscured. The beret shall be shaped by pulling the mass of the beret down towards the wearer’s right, without disorientating the above two positions.”
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