Cape Town - The establishment by the Department of International Relations and Co-operation (Dirco) of a ministerial committee to manage the 2024 annual Hajj and Umrah pilgrimages has brought the role of the SA Hajj and Umrah Council (Sahuc) into question again.
At the committee’s inaugural meeting, Minister Naledi Pandor said its mandate and role was to provide strategic direction and to ensure that South African pilgrims enjoyed a well-organised pilgrimage by an appropriate system under the auspices of the relevant Ministry of Hajj and Umrah in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Saying the committee’s work would not affect the current Hajj season, Pandor tasked it with conducting consultations with relevant stakeholders in South Africa and in Saudi Arabia to prepare for the next Hajj season in 2024.
She said this was to ensure that it enjoyed broad-based support from the Muslim community.
Sahuc this week released its fourth accreditation list of Hujjaj, or pilgrims, for 2023 and said Hujaaj had until 6.30pm on March 7 to accept or decline accreditation and until the same time on March 10 to select an accredited Hajj operator of choice.
This after a recent dispute over accreditation between Sahuc and Muslim travel agents landed in the Western Cape High Court, which ordered Sahuc to listen to the appeals of the six travel agents it had found to be non-compliant.
Political party Al Jama-ah has entered the fray with party leader Ganief Hendricks asking Parliament to investigate why the House was not consulted before the government allowed Sahuc, an NGO, to conclude and sign international agreements with regards to the Hajj with Saudi Arabia.
Hendricks said Sahuc’s policies and processes had led to the cost of the Hajj becoming out of reach of most South Africans and blamed this on Sahuc monopolising the service.
Hendricks called for a system allowing South Africans to get Hajj visas online and make their travel and hotel bookings online like every other country and as happens with the Umrah, the non-mandatory lesser pilgrimage.
Local advocacy group Hajj Watch said in a statement that the recent developments had vindicated its position that Sahuc had no authority to bind South African Muslims to its requirements to prospective pilgrims.
Hajj Watch chairperson Jakes Rawat said: “Hajj Watch and civil society have engaged Dirco for years for clarity on the status of the entity that masquerades as an arm of the SA government in Saudi Arabia. Dirco urgently needs to answer Parliament on this farce that has been going on for decades with Dirco’s approval.”
Sahuc said the organisation was formed by mutual agreement between Dirco and the Saudi Hajj Ministry in 1995.
“This was due to the increasing issues that were occurring where Hujjaj were either left stranded or provided with in-efficient service from the then operators or group leaders.”
mwangi.githahu@inl.co.za