Skip to main content

SOUTH AFRICAN CHRISTIANS WAR ON HALAL.




The Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities (CRL) Commission has been flooded with letters from Christian consumers complaining that most food and beverages in their supermarkets are certified halaal, with some saying they don’t want to eat or drink anything “sacrificed to idols”.

Complaints received by the CRL against supermarkets and Muslim halaal-certification authorities show some Christians are furious about the prevalence of halaal-certified food in grocery stores and restaurants, claiming it violates their right to freedom of choice.

Documents City Press obtained show that some Christian consumers have laid complaints with the commission against supermarkets, including Pick n Pay, Shoprite, Checkers, Woolworths and Food Lovers Market, food manufacturers and restaurants, as well as the SA National Halaal Authority (Sanha), National Independent Halaal Trust (NIHT), Islamic Council of SA and the Muslim Judicial Council.

Christian consumers complain they are forced to buy halaal goods and are “manipulated” into funding Islam.

Some complainants charged that buying halaal-certified foods indirectly forces Christians to adhere to sharia law, pay for the persecution of other Christians in Muslim countries, fund the building of mosques and even contribute financially to terrorist groups, such as the Islamic State and Hamas.

The complaints are being investigated by the commission’s lawyers.
But one halaal-certification body has hit back at the “Islamophobic” claims that it funds terror groups and Christian persecution, slamming them as “untrue, a fabrication” and saying they “should be treated with the contempt they deserve”.

Stats SA figures from 2016 show that South Africa is home to 892 685 Muslims, 43.4 million Christians, 5.9 million people who claim to have no religious affiliation or belief, 2.4 million who follow traditional African religion, 561 268 Hindus, 52 598 atheists, 49 470 Jews and 32 944 agnostics.

The halaal industry is estimated to be worth R45bn and it is estimated that up to 90% of all food products in the country are halaal certified.

A complainant from Kouga in the Eastern Cape charged in a letter to the commission that halaal-certification bodies violate the Consumer Protection Act “which protects consumers against discriminatory marketing”.
“Currently 2% to 3% of the South African population is Muslim, while the majority of South Africans associate themselves with the Christian faith, yet consumers are forced to buy Islamic-labelled products ... We view this as an unfair practice based on religious beliefs.”

Another from Riversdale, Western Cape, wrote: 
“They don’t give us a choice. As a Christian believer I’m forced to buy products from a culture group that makes up only 2.6% of our population. I therefore have to finance a system that I do not support and I also do not know how the money is spent.”

A complainant from Laudium, Pretoria, wrote: “My right to purchase groceries according to my own religious beliefs has been violated. The majority of food items available on the shelves are halaal certified ... I am deeply offended by the fact that I, as a Christian, don’t have a choice.
“I’ve been eating Kellogg’s Corn Flakes since I was a child, but now I’m forced to eat halaal-certified Kellogg’s Corn Flakes, because that is all that’s available at my supermarket.”

Complainants claim they are made to pay for certified food which forces them to “contribute financially to the Islamic community”.

A complainant from Bruma, Johannesburg, wrote that while the right of religious communities to observe their own dietary laws was not in dispute, measures taken for the practical convenience of those adherents must not be at the expense of, or offensive to, those of other religions.

“Islam is overtly and actively anti-Christian. Whereas South Africa enjoys a high degree of tolerance among various religious groups and we value the cordial relations that exist between adherents of various faiths, it is deeply offensive to the conscience of any person to be forced to support a religion that is directly and fundamentally opposed to his own.”

Other petitioners included statements in their complaints that halaal-certification bodies have indentified as “Islamophobic”, including that they were forced to eat food “sacrificed to idols”, fund the persecution of Christians and Jews in Muslim countries, subscribe to sharia law and even fund terrorism.

A Durbanville, Cape Town, resident complained that he couldn’t find non-halaal takeaways in a local shopping centre and that besides meat and chicken, “even sweets, frozen vegetables, milk, butter, bread, juice, ice cream, and pasta are halaal certified”.

But NIHT chairperson Hafez Moorad Booley said the halaal-certification process simply “oversees the entire programme of production and ensures that no non-halaal products are used, or that halaal products are contaminated with pork, insects, urine, alcohol, animal waste, blood, certain genetically modified organisms and harmful supplements and colourants”.

“We must stress that absolutely no foods are dedicated to any gods, as has been alleged. That concept is alien to Islam and it is totally forbidden. A great misconception is that halaal means a bunch of priests chanting and changing normal foods to halaal foods. That is untrue. The halaal process is merely to ensure that forbidden ingredients are not used in the production of these products.”

Booley said the cost of halaal certification is minimal and not carried by the consumer. The input costs of halaal and non-halaal foods is the same, he said, otherwise producers would not make halaal products.

Booley said allegations that they funded terrorist organisations was “totally unfounded”.
“It is untrue, a fabrication and should be treated with the contempt it deserves,” he said.

“The NIHT is a registered nonprofit organisation with the SA Revenue Service, department of trade and industry, the SA Meat Industry Company and Consumer Goods Council of SA, and our financials are audited annually by reputable auditing firms.

“Our opposition and total rejection of rogue, so-called Islamic, organisations, such as the Islamic State, al-Qaeda, al-Shabaab and Boko Haram, is well documented both locally and internationally,” said Booley.

Sanha spokesperson Ebi Lockhat said: “Muslims do not believe in the Holy Trinity. Our faith is monotheistic and our belief is in one God, the Almighty who is referred to as Allah. Our food is not dedicated to any triune god or idols.”


CRL chairperson Thoko Mkhwanazi-Xaluva confirmed receiving numerous complaints from Christians about halaal products in stores and said she would look into kosher organisations as well.

CRL chairperson Thoko Mkhwanazi-Xaluva. 

To avoid eating halaal-certified foods, she said, some Christians said they bought imported goods and avoided supermarkets such as Pick n Pay, Checkers and Shoprite, whose branded products are certified halaal. They are also demanding bolder and larger halaal symbols on food products so they can spot them better and clear warning signs at restaurants and fast food outlets that serve halaal meat.
“South Africans should start asking food manufactures difficult questions, for instance, how much money they are paying for the halaal and kosher emblems on food products,” she said.
“People should know what it means to them to promote other religions as far as their own beliefs are concerned, because they are indirectly promoting something else.
“Are Jewish and Muslim organisations trying to recruit more Christians to become Muslims or Jewish and is it in the best interest of people from different religious groups?”

Mkhwanazi-Xaluva said even bottled water was certified halaal or kosher.
“If I purchase kosher- or halaal-certified products, it means that I am subsidising another religion. I am paying indirectly for something that is not my belief.
“We have raised this concern with the Muslim Judicial Council to determine how much money it collects on halaal-certificated foods. We had conversations with the Consumer Council and we need to follow up on these issues,” she said.

National Consumer Commission spokesperson Trevor Hattingh said they were unaware of the complaints and that there was no empirical evidence to prove that consumers were being forced to buy halaal-certified food.

Shoprite and Woolworths referred media inquiries to the Consumer Goods Council of SA, which said it was unaware of the complaints. Food Lovers Market declined to comment.

A Pick n Pay spokesperson said that halaal “certification costs are negligible and there is no charge passed on to our customers. Customers who do not wish to buy food that has been certified for religious purposes can find alternatives in our stores.”

“The majority of our non-Muslim customers are not offended in any way by halaal certification.

“The only difference is that halaal meat receives a blessing. The cost of this blessing is negligible. Most customers have no objection to halaal or kosher certification symbols on the products they buy.”

Kosher-certification head Rabbi Dovi Goldstein said he runs a non-profit organisation and the certification does not increase the price of food.


SOURCE:

Comments

POPULAR NEWS FROM THIS SITE:

CUBA CLAIMS CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER IS FIDEL CASTRO'S SON.

The suicide note left by Fidel Castro’s eldest son has rocked the Cuban nation this week, with the most astonishing revelation being the claim that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was his half-brother and the son of the late Fidel Castro. The handwritten note left by Fidel Castro Diaz-Balart, 68, the eldest of Fidel Castro’s children, appears to confirm the longstanding rumor in Cuba that Fidel Castro fathered Justin Trudeau after a public tryst with Margaret Trudeau in 1970. “ Castro Diaz-Balart, who had been attended by a group of doctors for several months due to a state of profound depression, committed suicide this morning ,”  Cubadebate website reported. The death of the high-profile government nuclear scientist, also known as “Fidelito”, or Little Fidel, because of how much he looked like his father, stunned the nation, however it is his “ explosive ” suicide note that has set tongues wagging in Havana. Amid a wide-ranging barrage of complaint

MINERS IN NAMIBIA DISCOVER SHIPWRECK LOADED $13 MILLION WORTH OF GOLD.

Image: Dieter Noli. Diamond miners working off the coast of Africa were beyond surprised when they discovered a 500-year-old shipwreck teeming with gold worth $13 million and other treasures. The ship, aptly named ‘Bom Jesus’ or ‘Good Jesus,’ was like a miracle to the miners. Bom Jesus was first identified and discovered by geologists working for the mining company De Beers in 2008. It was found off the coast of Namibia near Oranjemund. Image: Dieter Noli. According to experts, Bom Jesus is from the Golden era of Portuguese explorers who set sail in all directions in search of new lands to colonize. The ship left Lisbon in 1533 under the supervision of Sir Francisco de Noronha. But on its way to India, it mysteriously vanished. Before the discovery, the miners were draining an artificial salt lake. As the lake dried out, many lost ships were found at the bottom of the lake. Bom Jesus was among them, and it is considered the oldest of all the shipw

LETHOTO'S PRIME MINISTER FACES IMPEACHMENT MOTION OVER HIS WIFE'S ACT.

Lethoto Prime Minister Tom Thabane & The first Lady   Maesaiah Thabane. Maseru, LETHOTO: Lesotho's Prime Minister Thomas Thabane is facing a motion of no confidence for allegedly allowing his wife to meddle in government affairs, as political in-fighting rocks his ruling party and threatens the breakdown of his coalition government.  The motion was filed in parliament this week by a member of Thabane's own ruling All Basotho Convention (ABC), raising the possibility he will call snap elections in the tiny mountainous southern African kingdom.  "We hereby move a motion that this honourable house has no confidence in a government of Lesotho led by the Prime Minister Thomas Motsoahe Thabane,"  read a motion filed by ABC's Motebang Koma and seconded by the main opposition Democratic Congress deputy leader, Motlalentoa Letsosa. Parliament was adjourned on Monday with no date fixed for it to sit again. While the motion did not outline reasons fo

BEES 'ARRESTS' SUSPECTED THIEVES IN UGANDA.

Bees 'handcuffed' one of the suspects around the wrist, while another had the TV set reportedly stuck on his hands.  Image: Daily Monitor. Kampala, UGANDA: Two burglars who are suspected to have stolen a television set in Sofiia village, Busia Town in eastern Uganda are in police custody after they were attacked by a swarm of bees. Like police would handcuff a suspect, a swarm of bees mobbed the hands of one of the suspects, while another reportedly had the TV set stuck on his hands as they returned the stolen items to where they had been picked from. Ms Rashida Jowelia, the owner of the property, said her TV set was stolen from her house last Friday, but she decided to seek the services of a medicine man in Sofia Village rather than report the matter to police. The suspects were identified as Wycliffe Kinara and Richard Duki, both Kenyan nationals from Nakuru. Bees 'handcuffed' one of them around the wrist, while another had the TV set reportedly stuck on his hands

ZIMBABWE VICE-PRESIDENT'S WIFE ARRESTED FOR FAKING MARRIAGE.

Harare, ZIMBABWE: Mary Chiwenga, the estranged wife of Vice President Constantino Chiwenga, has been arrested for causing a fraudulent marriage between herself and the former army General to be registered. Chiwenga and his wife are said to have fallen out after the former model allegedly asked the VP to formalise their marriage when he was on his sick bed at a South African hospital. The former army general who led the military coup that toppled long time ruler Robert Mugabe in 2017 spent the better part of this year battling for his life in hospitals in South Africa, China and India. When he was flown to China, Marry was allegedly banned from visiting him. On his return to Harare on November 23 she was not among those that welcomed him at the Robert Mugabe International Airport. Marry was also conspicuous by her absence a week later when Chiwenga held a prayer meeting and a party at his homestead in Wedza. The two are said to be living separately after the VP moved i

HOW BOTSWANA NEW PRESIDENT SURPRISED THE WORLD BY APPOINTING 29 YEARS OLD WOMAN MINISTER.

The newly sworn in presidentof Botswana, Mokgweetsi Masisi has also sworn in his 18-member cabinet last Wednesday and making the list is the country’s youngest member of parliament Bogolo Joy Kenewendo. The 30-year-old economist, media commentator and policy analyst first joined parliament in 2016 as a specially elected MP by former president Ian Khama, and she is now the Investment, Trade and Industry Minister. Her appointment as a minister makes her the country’s youngest minister and one of few women to ever gain political leadership in the landlocked Southern African country. This feat has generated a lot of reaction from many young Africans on social media who were not only admiring her good looks, but rethinking the choice of older political leaders in their countries. One Twitter user EnviroMan from South Africa compared Bogolo to the women in his country’s cabinet who he described as Gogos – which means Grandmothers in the Xhosa language. “Get to

UGANDA ANNOUNCES "KILL THE GAYS" LAW IMPOSING DEATH PENALTY TO HOMOSEXUALS.

Kampala, UGANDA: Uganda has announced plans to impose the death penalty on homosexuals. The bill, colloquially known as “Kill the Gays” in Uganda, was nullified five years ago on a technicality, but the government said on Thursday it plans to resurrect it within weeks. The government said the legislation would curb a rise in “unnatural sex” in the east African nation. “Homosexuality is not natural to Ugandans, but there has been a massive recruitment by gay people in schools, and especially among the youth, where they are promoting the falsehood that people are born like that,”  the country’s ethics and integrity minister, Simon Lokodo, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. “Our current penal law is limited. It only criminalises the act. We want it made clear that anyone who is even involved in promotion and recruitment has to be criminalised. Those that do grave acts will be given the death sentence.” Mr Lokodo said the bill, which has the support of the co

ALBERT EINSTEIN'S PRIVATE DIARIES REVEAL HIS RACIST VIEWS.

Newly translated into English, Albert Einstein’s private travel diaries from the 1920s reveal that he was racist in his early life, especially toward Chinese people. The diaries were written between October 1922 and March 1923. In one entry Einstein wrote that the  “Chinese don’t sit on benches while eating but squat like Europeans do when they relieve themselves out in the leafy woods. All this occurs quietly and demurely. Even the children are spiritless and look obtuse.” Speaking about the “abundance of offspring” and the “fecundity” of the Chinese, he continued: “It would be a pity if these Chinese supplant all other races. For the likes of us the mere thought is unspeakably dreary.” Einstein also derided the people of Ceylon, which is now known as Sri Lanka. In Ceylon, he wrote, the locals “live in great filth and considerable stench at ground level,” before adding they “do little and need little. The simple economic cycle of life.” Einstein also gave his thoughts

EGYPTIAN VILLAGE WHERE MOSQUE WAS BOMBED HAD BEEN WARNED.

CAIRO (AP) : Elders of a village in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula where militants killed 305 people in a mosque had been warned by Islamic State operatives to stop collaborating with security forces and to suspend rituals associated with Islam’s mystical Sufi movement, security officials and residents said. The latest warning came as recently as a week ago, telling villagers in Al-Rawdah not to hold Sufi rituals on Nov. 29-30 to commemorate the birth of the Prophet Muhammad, according to residents and the officials who work for security and military intelligence agencies operating in Sinai. Local operatives of the Islamic State group’s affiliate in Sinai consider Sufis to be heretics who should be killed. Ahmed Saqr, an expert on the Sinai insurgency, said militants had publicly identified the mosque, which also serves as a Sufi center, as a target months ago. He wrote on Saturday in a Facebook post that the selection of the Al-Rawdah mosque as a target “raises questions about tho

PRESIDENT RAMAPHOSA'S SON TO MARRY UGANDAN EX-PRIME MINISTER'S DAUGHTER.

Kampala, UGANDA: Former Uganda Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi is set to become an in-law at the Mahlamba Ndlopfu, the home of the new President of South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa. John Patrick Amama Mbabazi, SC (simply known as Amama Mbabazi , born 16 January 1949) is a Ugandan politician who served as the ninth Prime Minister of Uganda from 24 May 2011 to 19 September 2014. Image: NP. Mbabazi’s niece, Ms. Bridget Birungi Rwakairu who he raised after her father was killed in the 1980s, will soon be exchanging vows with the South African First Son Mr. Andile Ramaphosa, Mbabazi’s family announced yesterday. The wedding will be preceded by a traditional function known as “Okushaba” which will be held this weekend at Mbabazi’s home on Saturday. 36 year old Bridget Birungi Rwakairu is daughter to Shadrack Rwakairu and Peace Ruhindi. Rwakairu was murdered in 1983 by the UNLA soldiers just five years into his marriage with Mrs Ruhindi. In a statement, Mbab