No Hajj pilgrimage for SA Muslims
SOUTH African Muslims will not be able to perform the Hajj pilgrimage this year.
The SA Hajj and Umrah Council (Sahuc) announced on Thursday that because of the Covid-19 pandemic, closure of borders and curtailment of international travel, South Africans would not be able to embark on the annual pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia, the holiest city for Muslims.
About 3500 South African Muslims were expecting to travel from next week for Hajj.
Some 2.5 million pilgrims from around the world go to Mecca and Medina for the week-long ritual scheduled for late next month.
Hajj is a mandatory religious duty for Muslims that must be carried out at least once in their lifetime by all adults who are physically and financially capable of undertaking the journey and who can support their family while away.
The Ministry of Hajj and Umrah has not yet made any official announcement on whether Hajj will go ahead. However, other countries such as Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia also announced they were not allowing its citizens to visit Mecca and Medina.
This week Sahuc met with Naledi Pandor, Minister of the Department of International Relations and Co-operation, who indicated that the country’s borders were only open for the repatriation of citizens under the lockdown.
Moaaz Casoo, secretary-general of the council, said pilgrims who were accredited would be placed in the queue according to their date and time of application and queued for next year’s Hajj.
Casoo said pilgrims should contact their respective accredited Hajj operators to arrange their release from any contracts and refunds of money paid to the operator.