Cape Town - Six Cape Town travel agencies that took the South African Hajj and Umrah Council (Sahuc) to court on the issue of accreditation to operate as Hajj operators for 2023 have had their accreditation declined.
The six that Sahuc found to be non-compliant with procedures are Al Safir, Al Massi Nujoom, Umrah Tours & Nuri’s Travel, Shafiq’s Travel, Al Anwar Hajj and Umrah, and Yasmine’s Travel.
The travel agencies last week took their dispute with Sahuc to the Western Cape High Court where they applied for an order to compel Sahuc to conclude their pending appeals lodged against its decision to decline their accreditation applications.
Sahuc secretary-general Hassan Choonara said Sahuc and the agencies reached an out-of-court settlement in which it agreed to give all six agencies a hearing.
Choonara said the hearings were held on Monday this week after which Sahuc found they had not fulfilled the incumbent application criteria and were guilty of late submission after the closing date.
Choonara said there were now only seven accredited Hajj operators. They are Khidmatul Awaam, Harvey World Travel Evans Park, Harvey World Travel Lenasia, XL Flywell, Travel & Tour World, World of Travel, and Yusra Tours.
Choonara said Hujjaj now had until 6.30pm on February 24 to select an accredited Hajj operator.
“We cannot afford to extend any further due to deadlines we have in place as per the (Saudi) Ministry of Hajj & Umrah requirements.”
South Africa has been granted a quota of 2 500 pilgrims who will be allowed to perform Hajj in 2023.
Choonara said that while additional numbers had been requested, none were given.
Hajj and Umrah packages are lucrative for travel agents, even though the prices vary greatly depending on the budgets of would-be pilgrims, known as Hujjaj if they are going on the Hajj, or mutamireen if embarking on Umrah.
A comparison of different packages on offer for Ramadaan 2023 Umrah from operators in South Africa showed the cheapest Umrah package set at R35 500, while the most expensive is R63 000.
Following the court dispute, lawyer and Al Jamah-ah City councillor Shameemah Salie repeated her call from May last year for an ombudsman to deal with such issues.
Salie said: “An independent entity such as an ombudsman would ensure a neutral position that these complaints and concerns be dealt with effectively and avoid court proceedings.”
