A Muslim-owned travel agency is suing an Old Mutual employee after forensic investigators traced an e-mail accusing the agency of exploiting the Muslim hajj pilgrimage to her computer.
The e-mail, which accused Cape Town-based Sure Flywell Travel of amassing a net profit of R10-million on air-ticket sales alone during last year’s hajj, has shaken the Muslim community.
Earlier this year, it prompted Hajj Watch, a South African civil advocacy movement that represents the rights of hajjis, to call a mass meeting to ”name and shame agents that exploit pilgrims”. Thousands of Muslims held rallies in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban.
The pilgrimage to Mecca is a R225-million-a-year industry. On Wednesday evening the Hajj Watch leadership met to further discuss what they describe as the ”skulduggery” of certain travel agencies.
”It is easier to become a hajj vendor then it is to become a boerewors vendor in Adderley Street [in Cape Town],” said Jakes Rawad, the spokesperson for Hajj Watch.
The hajj occurs each year between the eighth and 13th days of the last month of the Muslim year, Dhu al Hijjah. It represents the culmination of a Muslim’s spiritual life and for many it is a lifelong ambition.
Under Saudi Arabian regulations, only hajj pilgrims using travel agents registered with the South African Hajj and Umrah Council (Sahuc) are permitted visas to travel for the pilgrimage. The Saudi Arabia Ministry of Hajj issues special pilgrimage visas each year to expedite the movement of the millions of pilgrims to Mecca and Medina to visit the Prophet’s tomb.
The Sahuc was established in 1996 by the Department of Foreign Affairs to assist South African pilgrims. Last year 7 500 South Africans were endorsed as pilgrims — out of a total of two million who performed the hajj.
The e-mail, with the subject ”exploitation of the hujjaj”, allegedly originated from the computer of an employee in Old Mutual’s IT department on December 21 last year. She spoke to the Mail & Guardian, but cannot be named for legal reasons.
In addition to profits on air tickets, the message claimed that Sure Flywell Travel, the Association of South Africa Travel Agents, and another travel company called Wembley Travel colluded to create ”an air-ticket monopoly”, charging on average R30 000 for a hajj package.
”This type of exploitation of the poor is unacceptable and must be rectified immediately. The question is: What is the ummah [Muslim community] going to do about it?” the e-mail read. ”It is obvious that this type of problem cannot be left to the so-called ‘leaders’ of the ummah, as they themselves have proved that they are not capable of resolving problems or even setting direction for the ummah.
”For as long as the ummah remains ignorant and apathetic, they will always be led astray. The time has come to mobilise and educate one another of how we are being misled by prominent individuals in order to enrich themselves.”
Usman Ahmed, the chairperson of Sure Flywell Travel, commissioned the services of CyberX Forensic services to investigate the origin of the e-mail after it was released ”into the world” at the end of the last year.
It was sent under the pseudonym Muhammad Al-Haq and came from a Yahoo.co.uk account, which was closed shortly after it was sent.
Ahmed this week vehemently denied the claims in the message. ”My company has been in existence for 40 years. If I was exploiting in any way I wouldn’t be in business,” he said. ”To send a chain e-mail of this nature to all and sundry in your address book is not fair. It smells rotten.” He said the average hajj package ranged between R25 000 and R55 000, excluding spending money.
After failing to extract an apology from the ”author” of the e-mail, Ahmed has sued the Old Mutual employee in her personal capacity. The employee has opposed the action.
Stephen Bowey, Old Mutual communications manager, said the company’s forensic services had conducted an internal investigation, at the request of CyberX, into the origin of the e-mail. ”Our investigation produced no evidence that an Old Mutual employee had been logged into Yahoo.co.uk via Old Mutual’s system,” he said.
Hajj Watch’s Rawad said that , for them, the controversy highlighted the fact that the hajj business had become a ”tradable commodity”. He said the annual demand for visas to Saudi Arabia outweighed the quota by at least 3 000, which gave travel agencies major scope for abuse.
Rawad said the situation was ”spiralling downwards” because there was no transparency on how the Sahuc regulated its member travel agencies.
The Sahuc had not responded for comment by the time of going to press.