Call to prayer gets a hearing as talks continue between City, MJC

ENGAGEMENTS between the City and the Muslim Judicial Council SA (MJC) to amend the noise nuisance bylaw to make provision for the athaan (Muslim call to prayer) are set to resume later this month.

This while the Good Party insists that the City has been lax for the past three years in amending the by-law to exclude the athaan from the definition of “noise disturbance”, saying that “this amendment has not yet been made”.

In efforts to force the City to amend the bylaw conditions for noise disturbance, Good Party councillor Suzette Little submitted what the amendment should read and called on the City to stop dragging its feet in having the by-law amendment passed.

The City had not responded to questions by deadline yesterday.

Second deputy president of the MJC, Sheikh Riad Fataar, said engagements with the City were underway.

“Discussions between the MJC and City are taking place and will resume later in April or after the month of Ramadaan.

“It’s not like nothing is happening. The MJC wants to protect the mosques and we won’t be led by the noses by any political parties,” said Fataar.

Little said: “Three years after the City of Cape Town promised to amend its noise by-laws to exclude the Muslim call to prayer from the definition of ‘noise disturbance’, the amendment hasn’t been made. The City’s website continues to include ‘church singing/bells’ and ‘calls to mosque’ as examples of ’noise disturbance’ – alongside nightclubs and industrial noise.

“The matter has been outstanding since May 2019, when, in the middle of the holy month of Ramadaan, a noise disturbance complaint was lodged against the 100-year-old Zeenatul Mosque in District Six for the call to prayer, the athaan. The City’s leadership publicly promised to provide for an exemption from noise control regulations for the athaan and church bells,” said Little.

The Good Party has proposed that the amended Section 3 of the by-law includes a paragraph which reads: “Places of worship, such as churches and mosques, operating lawfully in terms of the Cape Town Planning By-Law and its Zoning Scheme, shall be exempt from the provisions of the Western Cape Noise Control Regulations and from the provisions of this by-law, for the purposes of religious sounds of calls to prayer, ringing of bells and singing.”

In 2019 Zeenatul Islam Mosque in Muir Street, District Six was the focus of noise complaints against the call to prayer.

When the mosque committee appealed to the City, the City carried out its own scientific test which showed that the sound level of the athaan fell within the accepted decibel measure as set out by the by-law.