DURBAN - AFTER two deadly mosque attacks, the State Security Agency (SSA) is looking into the possible extremist links of those stoking Shi'a-Sunni tension.
Among those on the watch list is a prominent Islamic scholar who has publicly undermined people who signed the Cape Accord promoting peace and unity.
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After last month’s attack on the Shias’ Imam Hussain Mosque in Ottawa, Verulam, the controversial scholar, who is known for inciting hatred against the Shia community, continued to label people who appealed for unity as a kuffar - a derogatory Arabic term for a non- believer.
An SSA source has confirmed the extremist Sunni - and several others - were under investigation for hate speech. But just what else intelligence officials were doing to prevent further attacks on mosques was not yet clear.
SSA spokesperson Brian Dube would only say this week that investigations into the mosque attacks were continuing.
“A multidisciplinary team has been formed, headed by the Hawks. We are not in a position to speak on the contents of the investigation,” said Dube.
While nobody has been prosecuted for inciting hatred and violence, President Cyril Ramaphosa has appointed a high-level review panel into the work of the SSA to reconstruct a “responsible and accountable agency”.
The panel, to be chaired by former minister Sydney Mufamadi, will assess the mandate, capacity and organisational integrity of the SSA.
In the recent Durban mosque attack in which Abbas Essop, 34, had his throat slit, two others, Ali Nchinyane and Muhammad Ali, were also injured.
Eid in Verulam, marking the end of the holy Ramadaan month of fasting. The mosque was the site of a recent murder and is closed but was opened on Friday for Eid prayers. Picture: Leon Lestrade/ANA
On Thursday, a similar attack on the Malmesbury mosque in Cape Town claimed the lives of two Sunni Muslims, 74-year-old Ismail Bassa and father-of-10 children Ziyaad Haseen Hedick.
The killer, who was shot dead by police, has been identified as Noor Abdulle Araale, a Somalian.
Araale was alleged to have been mentally ill. The Somali Community board of South Africa’s Amir Sheikh said the assailant was a trader in Bellville who had been on his way to Vredenberg to celebrate Eid.
While millions of Muslims throughout the world celebrated Eid on Friday, the community of Ottawa in Durban remained anxious.
The founder of the Imam Hussain Mosque, Azad Seedat, said the community remained worried as the suspects were still on the loose.
“I meet the police every week and it’s the same old story. They are always saying that their investigations are ongoing,” said Seedat.
There have been growing tensions within the Muslim community in the past two weeks linked to the signing of the Cape Accord.
This was reflected on Monday when a press conference on the accord had to be called off as a result of threats made to some signatories.
The accord was signed on June 3 when Islamic leaders from across the country gathered at Masjidul Quds in Cape Town’s Gatesville.
It was drafted in December and then adopted by about 25 organisations throughout the country.
Cape Town’s Dr Rashied Omar, who was one of the signatories to the accord, said those who signed were declared outside of the fold of Islam (apostates) by some parties.
“In the view of these conservative groups, to be declared an apostate means that you become a legitimate target for attack and abuse - and in more extreme views a legitimate target to be killed,” said Omar.
He said the groups had been calling on Muslim donors to withdraw their charities from accord signatory organisations such as the South African National Zakat Fund (Sanzaf) and Awqaf SA and to refrain from performing prayer rituals led by the signatories.
“In addition, personal attacks on the signatories were widely distributed via WhatsApp and other social media platforms,” said Omar
The scholar who referred to signatories as non-believers said on public forums: “Anybody who signs the Cape Accord is a kuffar. He’s thinking the kuffar way that Shias are Muslims. So remember, we must never give them zakaat (charity) money.”
Omar said the signatories felt the climate had become too toxic to convene a press conference and they had to postpone it.