Call to have Muslim marriages recognised by law

The leader of the Al Jama-ah party in parliament, Ganief Hendricks, has called for Muslim marriages to be dignified with marriage certificates to end the huge outcry from many Muslims who struggled to enjoy their marriage rights because their unions were not recognised in law.

He also called for the release on parole of three members of the People Against Gangsterism and Drugs (Pagad) who had been imprisoned for years and not considered for parole although they qualified for it two years ago in Cape Town. The prisoners were not even set free during the recent parole release implemented by President Cyril Ramaphosa for qualifying inmates.

On the marriages, Hendricks asked Ramaphosa to help relieve many Muslim couples of the burden of not having certificates for their marriages.

Presently Muslim marriages are not recognised like other Christian and customary marriages because an Imam who married a couple was not allowed to take the marriage papers to home affairs for the issuing of a marriage certificate.

Speaking during the second day of  the debate on Ramaphosa’s State of  the Nation address in Parliament last week, Hendricks said it was disappointing that 26 years into the country’s democracy, the law still did not recognised Muslim marriages or issue certificates to authenticate them.

“All we ask for is a marriage certificate, much as the Induna’s lobola certificate is enough for the issuing of an official one.”

When Muslim women want to seek legal recourse for their marriages, they have to go to the high court for orders  which is very expensive, said Hendricks.

“This way the women are disadvantaged and this shows that there is no dignity for Muslims in South Africa because they have no marriage rights from birth to the grave,” Hendricks said.

He said it was sad that for Muslims the death certificate would indicate that a person “never married” despite the Imam having married the person with dozens of witnesses.

The Al Jama-ah party is planning to introduce a Private Members Bill in parliament proposing that the Muslim marriages be recognised and authorised by home affairs.

“Mr President, I hope you will seriously consider and support Al Jama-ah’s Private Member’s Bill  to kickstart this process. I saw an elderly humanitarian from Islamic Relief kiss you on the forehead at the recent Ubuntu awards. You are held in high esteem by the community,” Hendricks said.

He said that Al Jama-ah supported National Health but asked the President not to repeal or review the labour legislation as “workers fought so hard for it”.

He further said Ramaphosa must not believe that the Afrikaners wanted to help build the country’s economy. “They did nothing to increase GDP for 26 years. Don’t listen to them and do away with BEE,” he said.

He was reacting to calls by some Freedom Front Plus members that Ramaphosa abolish the affirmative action and Black economic empowerment policies because they disadvantaged the minorities, especially whites.

Hendricks said while Ramaphosa released thousands of prisoners on parole without a profile to show that they qualified for the parole, he ignored Pagad prisoners that were serving long jail sentences whose profiles were 100 % compliant with the parole conditions.

He said he was visited by 80 year old mothers of some prisoners at his parliamentary constituency offices who shed tears, complaining their sons had kept in jail although they were model prisoners and fully eligible for parole.

“I am referring to three former Pagad activists who may have strayed from the law for a good cause like those of us who also strayed from the law by burning tyres with our matches and paraffin. It appears the Minister does not have time to carry out his mandate. But it will be a blot on our constituency office and parliament if those mothers never see their sons again,” Hendricks said.

The Al Jama-ah leader also fought for the rights of the University of Western Cape president of Convocation who was allegedly shunned by Coloured leadership at the institution because she was a young black woman.

“We fought hard to change UWC from a bush college to a university,” he said. He said the issue of the women leader needed to be attended to urgently.

The leader also condemned the exposing of children to pornography through the new sex education programme introduced for Grade 4 to 12 pupils.

He said the intention was to reduce teenage pregnancies and HIV infections in primary schools, but many parents did not want their children to be exposed to “soft porn”.

He said his party would inform and warn Western Cape premier Alan Winde that Al Jama-ah would lay criminal charges against his government as soon as a pupil was allegedly found in possession of soft porn, which is a violation of the Sexual Offences Act.

ericn@citizen.co.za

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