MJC President defends the organisation

By Azhar Vadi 18-01-2012

Moulana Ihsaan Hendricks, the President of the Muslim Judicial Council (MJC), has defended the organisation on Cii Broadcasting this morning following the 3^rd Degree expose’ on e-tv in South Africa on Tuesday night.

The MJC was slammed on the social networks for their role in the saga as the organisation had previously certified Orion poultry as Halaal; and according to the programme last night, meat as well.

Orion Meat Storage Company had been accused of relabeling pork, kangaroo and other meats as Halaal.

Muslim consumers are only allowed to eat Halaal products. This status is determined by the Islamic manner of slaughtering and the exclusion of certain foods such as swine from the Muslim diet.

In the programme, MJC officials were portrayed as trying to avoid an interview and refusing to answer questions posed by presenter, Deborah Patta, with regards to the saga surrounding the alleged relabeling of non-permissible food products as Halaal by Orion Cold Storage.

The on air depiction has unleashed a plethora of criticism towards the organisation on social networking sites.

Moulana Hendricks said it was dejecting to see that Muslims could take 3^rd Degree as a reference.

“It is sad that our community can actually take 3^rd Degree as a daleel (evidence) for reference and then embarking on a lambasting programme to further insult the dignity of the Ulema (Muslim scholars),” he said on the Cii morning drive show, Sabahul Khair.

He said the programme producers did not request for an interview in an appropriate manner and therefore they refused to answer questions.

“3^rd Degree and in particular the programme of Deborah Patta, should learn once-and-for-all, to adopt the decency and the principle to request the MJC in a decent manner for an interview.”

Patta camped outside the offices of the MJC in Cape Town seeking clarity on the Halaal certifying issue for four hours prior to the airing of the programme.

She said they did speak to officials of the MJC requesting an interview.

“We met Sheikh Sedick (MJC Deputy President) outside the court when the application was first brought against Orion Cold Storage and he agreed to give us an interview. We just had to formalise a time.”

Patta said that this was then followed by an exchange of emails and phone calls with the MJC in which they had agreed to an interview without settling on a specific day.

In the programme aired on television, Patta said that when the MJC became aware of the nature of the questions dealing with the Halaal/Haraam issue, all communication from the MJC stopped.

“We phoned and phoned. I flew down to Cape Town – no avail. We came down again and sent another email and in fact the secretary general, (Moulana) Abdul Khalick Alli confirms on tape, which I have a copy of, that they did receive those emails. In fact he apologised for not getting back to us,” she said.

According to Patta, this then prompted them to visit the MJC offices unannounced to try and get an interview.

MJC officials refused to conduct the interview and have taken a decision not to participate in any interviews with the television channel.

“The MJC does not abdicate its responsibility. There are many other avenues, other then Deborah Patta, other then 3^rd Degree, to engage the Muslim community and to explain to the Muslim community the absolute truth,” said Moulana Hendricks.

Since the airing of the programme a number of people have called for the MJC to disband.

Anon

its been a while since this issue reared its “ugly” head… so if the MJC stands there so “dejected” by the muslim community’s outcry at the ordeal and claim that there are other avenues to address the community (other than the non-muslim media) then PLEASE TELL ME MJC – WHY HAVEN’T YOU DONE THAT PRIOR TO 3RD DEGREE’S EXPOSé??
MJC was fully aware of the investigation by the TV station (according to these reports), they had ample time to address the SA muslims.
Faatema Patel

its one thing to go after the MJC but what are we as the muslim Ummah of South Africa going to do about it? the buck doesnt stop here, there is clearly issues about halaal meat from the certification to the ridiculous price we pay!! ask yourselves why is it that halaal meat is sometimes more than double the price of non-halaal meat?????clearly there is a whole lot wrong.

the other thing i want to ask where are the muslims voices, the muslim journalists like Ashraf garda, Ferial haffejee, Yusuf Abramjee, where are their voices? why did it have to take a woman like Deborah Patta to see the injustices and do something about it?? She stood up for us as muslims when we were too “busy” to see it and take it up ourselves..I hope this a lesson and I commend Deborah and I sincerely hope that she takes it further and doesnt leave it there.

We need to ask ourselves the following:

1. Why do have so many certification bodies in this country?? We need to have one non-profit organisation, answerable to muslim consumer council who are transparent and accountable. There processes like other regulatory bodies need to be linked to South Aftrican constitution giving us recourse in the event of mismanagement and misappropriation.

2. MJC is at fault but Even Sanha has found themselves in hot water over the certification issue, when it comes to something as fundamental as halaal certification, we as the ummah need to ensure that the processes that supposed to be in place are adhered to and in the event they arent, that someone is held accountable and someone takes responsibility.

3. MJC should now be investigated fully, its books audited and Quality assurance procedures scrutenized by an independent body that needs to be appointed by the court in order for it to it remain and independent and objective process.

please brothers and sisters, I am urging you, let us not point fingers and do nothing about it, because if we do, we are as responsible as the MJC, Boycotting the MJC is the first step, the next is demanding accountability and responsibility from all Halaal bodies..this is a matter of imaan and we should fight for it. and Allah knows best.
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anon

If MJC has nothing to hide they would have come to the party and engage themselves in an interview with 3rd Degree , Deborah Patta or whomever else .
But with them hiding and lying on national TV clearly states that they are guilty and only in it for the money and not for whats best for the muslim community
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Bashir patel

why is it that we muslims do not believe the MJC ulema .we believe 3rd deree ahead of the ulema.
who are 3rd degree to pitch up without an appointment and expect our ulema to drop every thing and attend to them.why did 3rd degree twist the whole matter and blame mjc instead of the real culprit .
this is the norm as we muslims are guilty of not listening to both sides of the story.etv and orian are jewish owned and they have split the umah .when are we going to learn .
i do not for 1 min believe that mjc were aware of what happened behind their backs at night,and once made aware they did not hesitate to expose them and withdraw halaal certification
we should boycott orians and etv for their mischief ,im sure capetown will be united against orians .
lastly remember even the worst muslim drinking alcohol in a pub will ask for halaal food ,so give our ulema some credit.they will not knowingly feed us haraam let alone pork

Faheemjeftha

If MJC is innocent why don’t they sue 3rd degree-i don’t think we were watching same program .Is MJC the untouchable muslim mafia- why don’t they defend themselve in court.

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Haroon

Another issue that most people seemed to have missed is, did the owners of the butchers that were receiving the products from Orion not approach MJC on clarification of the meats halaal integrity.
Surely as a business owner you need to ensure that the goods you are receiving it fit for human or in this case muslim consumption.
If the MJC claims that they did not know about Orions rebranding activities then this matter could have been resolved if there was better communication between the business owner and MJC.
Irrespective of what MJC says the evidence laid down shows them to be lacking in the skills structure and ability to run a competent halaal certifying organisation.