Andy Duffy
The Muslim Judicial Council (MJC), which represents the majority of Muslims in the Western Cape, has called on the People Against Gangterism and Drugs (Pagad) to suspend all activities.
The council, previously slated for not taking a firm and public lead against Pagad’s vigilante tactics, says the group’s militant approach has spun out of control. It wants Pagad to suspend all operations, pending negotiations with other Muslim and community groups.
The call follows another pipe-bomb attack, this time on the home of University of Cape Town (UCT) academic Ebrahim Moosa. Moosa has kept his head since a clash with Pagad and Cape Town Muslim radio station Radio 786 over his criticism of the vigilante tactics.
Last weekend, however, a senior Pagad official labelled him a “munafiq [hypocrite or traitor]” at a rally attended by about 400 supporters in Salt River. Radio 786 broadcast the accusation on Monday, hours before the bomb blast that rocked Moosa’s Lansdowne home. No one was hurt in the attack, but damage was extensive.
The attack follows a string of similar strikes, most of them on small businesses and alleged drug dealers on the Cape Flats. “We don’t know where it’s going to stop,” says MJC representative Sheik Ebrahim Gabriels.
“It’s unacceptable that pipe bombs are being thrown at people’s homes. The issue Pagad is fighting for is a noble cause, but people can’t just take the law into their own hands. I think it would be wise for them [to call a halt], to sit with other people and to think out other methods.”
Police last week arrested a Pagad member after finding an alleged pipe-bomb factory in his house. The group denies involvement in the strikes or the attack on Moosa. But its leadership also made it clear that it regards Moosa as a foe. “Pagad is involved in a people’s programme and the people will certainly not passively allow religious gangsters and any other clergy to falsely accuse and attack the movement.”
Pagad refuses to say whether it condemns the attack on Moosa. National secretary Abidah Roberts told the Mail & Guardian that answering that question and others “will in no way serve the beneficial interests of the community”.
Observers say it is moot whether Pagad will heed the MJC’s call to freeze activities. But they say it is still an unusual move for MJC to stick its head above the parapet. The council has previously been reluctant to take Pagad head on – a strategy adopted by other influential Muslims in the province, Moosa among them.
“Everybody in religious, business and political leadership is scared of reprisals,” Moosa says. “The voice of sanity is completely muzzled and silenced; the reasonable voice of the religion is not heard. Instead it’s only the voice of a small group who have a very simplistic understanding of Islam that is heard. They have undermined the dignity and integrity of the faith.”
Moosa, a senior lecturer in religious studies at UCT, clashed with Pagad late in 1996. He criticised its tactics in a statement also signed by other religious and academic leaders.
The Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA)censured Radio 786 last year for its report of that clash, particularly its coverage of the attacks by some Muslim groups on Moosa. The station’s owner, the Islamic Unity Convention, led the charge against Moosa.
Pagad’s attack on Moosa last weekend – by its legal adviser, Cassiem Parker – is thought to have stemmed from the academic’s 1996 statement. Moosa says the station did not give him a chance to respond to the munafiq charge before it broadcast it this week. The insult is one of the most serious in Islam, Gabriels says.
The station believes Moosa has a vendetta to close it down, accusing him this week of “prejudice”. Station manager Amien Achmed denies any link between its reports and the bombing.
The IBA’s provincial officer, Victor Grootboom, says the authority has a thick file of transcripts of worrisome Radio 786 broadcasts – including a recent call on the station for the assassination of Cape Argus editor Moegsien Williams. But the authority can only act on complaints from the public, which are rare.
“There’s very little we can do,” Grootboom says. “They always use freedom of speech as a defence.” He adds, however, that such concerns could affect the station’s attempts to renew its licence, which expires next month.
Moosa did not hear Radio 786’s reports of the munafiq accusation, but plans to complain to the IBA. Williams was unavailable. No arrests had been made at the time of going to press.