Protesters in Athlone, Cape Town demanded public access on Tuesday to the processes the Muslim Judicial Council (MJC) follows in declaring meat halaal.
The small group, some of whom were People Against Gangsterism and Drugs (Pagad) members, were outside the MJC offices to raise public awareness of the issue.
The protest was part of ongoing unhappiness in the Muslim community over halaal approval.
Last year, Cape Town meat distributor, Orion, approved by the MJC, was found to have pork in products that were labelled halaal. Pork is a food forbidden by Islamic law. The company later defended itself in court saying it was sabotaged.
The Orion debacle led to many Muslims now wanting to know what went wrong with the MJC’s procedures.
Pagad spokesman Cassiem Parker said on Tuesday the MJC had yet to explain to Muslims why it had failed at the Orion distribution centre.
“The MJC has not come to the Muslim public and explained to us where the holes in its scrutinisation of Halaal meat exist, or who the staff were that failed to do their job properly,” Parker said.
“This is a service that the Muslim community is paying for and we want to know why it went wrong,” he said.
Meanwhile Pagad was telling Muslims to treat meat with the MJC stamp as non-halaal.
“There are other Muslim authorities that consumers and suppliers can trust to approve halaal meat,” he said.
Eye Witness News reported that the MJC hosted a press conference on the issue on Tuesday. The MJC’s moulana Igsaan Hendricks denied any wrongdoing and said its processes were above board.
The MJC had also created a Facebook page and posted a video on YouTube in a bid to clear its name
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