Hoodwinked by Halaal
The following has been said by Mr. Tony Naidoo and has been circulating via email. Please express your opinion regarding what has been said.
South Africans are hoodwinked daily by the ingenious “halaal” hoax. You
ask, “how am I being ripped off?” Well, like other South Africans, every
time you buy a halaal product, you unknowingly pay a surcharge that goes
into the bank account of a halaal certification body. The halaal
surcharge accumulates into millions of rands every year. The people thata
run the certification bodies have become fat-cats with your hard-earned
money. Since more than 80% of items on supermarket shelves are halaal,
almost every consumer is an unwitting victim of this evil practice. Have
you noticed that almost anything you buy these days, from meat products
to toothpicks, is halaal. Non-halaal alternatives are becoming
non-existent. Halaal products usually bear a moon and star symbol or
something similar together with “SANHA”, or “MJC”, or “NIHT”, or “ICSA”.
The abbreviations stand for the names of the halaal certification bodies
in SA. The fact that there are 4 bodies instead of one is evidence that
the halaal hoax is lucrative.Companies are pressurised by the halaal bodies to pay tens of thousands
of rands for a piece of paper that says they are halaal certified.
Rainbow Chicken, for example, pays over R300 000.00 a year for only its
KZN operation. Unilever pays over R65 000.00 for its Durbanplants (the
figures are verifiable). These huge amounts are not a problem for the
companies because they simply include them in the cost of the product
and it is passed on to the end consumer, viz. you and I. That means
everytime you fill your trolley, unbeknown to you, a significant portion
of your bill consists of the halaal surcharges. Companies say they pay
these large halaal certification fees in order to penetrate the Muslim
market. This is hogwash since the total Muslim population in SA is only
slightly over half a million, the majority of whom are women and
children that are not economically active. So who do you think is paying
off the hefty halaal tab? Mostly the other 47.5 million non-muslim South
Africans, my china. Hard to believe but its true! Stay tuned for the big
hypocrisy after the following questions.What is halaal? Who are these bodies? What are the Islamic authorities
saying about all of this? What happens to all this money and what is the
government doing about this? How do other religions view this practice?Halaal is a Sharia Law requirement of Islam. Koranic law requires that
animals for consumption are made to face the Ka’aba and slaughtered in
the name of Allah, the god of the Islam. Non-meat products must be free
from pork or alcohol. The irony is that pork-eating, wine-drinking
non-muslims (called “kaffirs” in the Koran)) handle the carcasses at the
abattoirs and you will find pork and halaal side by side in all the
major supermarkets like Pic ‘n Pay, Checkers, etc., and, the fact is,
very few Muslims actually shop at these stores. They usually support
Muslim-owned stores. The height of hypocrisy is that over 98% of
shoppers at these major food stores that stock mostly halaal are
non-muslims that are forced to pay the halaal surcharge because of a
lack of non-halaal alternatives. Many poor South Africans that live
below the breadline have no choice but to pay the halaal surcharge.The halaal certification bodies are privately run organisations even
though they may be registered as NPOs. Amongst the directors of these
organisations are ex-politicians that have been barred from holding
public office and another that had been charged for paedophilia.There is
bitter rivalry amongst the halaal bodies because each wants a bigger
piece of the pie. They are not mandated by the Muslim population and
generally do not have the support of the Islamic theological authorities
(ulamas). In fact, many of the ulamas have distanced themselves from the
certification bodies, stating that their practices are grossly
unscrupulous and they have called on the Ummah (Muslims) to boycott
products that have been certified by these charlatans. Why are these
authorities not exposing this evil to the general public? They will not
speak to the broader public because it is humiliating and they may also
be seen to be disloyal. But truth must out!The revenue from halaal is used to pay fat salaries to the directors of
the halaal bodies, to create employment for Muslims only, to propagate
Islam, to advance Islamist political causes both locally and abroad
(the is documented evidence to support these allegations). Ninety-eight
percent of unwary South Africans are forced, through lack of
alternatives, to financially support this religious requirement of Islam
which Muslims themselves are called upon, by their some of their
spiritual leaders, to boycott. The government’s lame view is that halaal
“does not harm the consumer”.Nominal Christians do not really have a problem with halaal from a
religious perspective. Others say, however, there are clear and
consistent warnings in the Bible not to eat animals that have been
offered to any other god. They say that Allah is not the God of the
Bible since Allah has no Son through whose substitutionary death and
resurrection a persons’s sins can be forgiven, thereby allowing him to
be reconciled to God. Hindus do not have a religious problem with halaal
since, they say, all gods are one. Many are offended, however, by the
economic exploitation. Jews have a similar practice to Muslims which
they call “kosher” but they will not eat each others foods. Muslims have
the right, in terms of the SA constitution, to practice their religion
and to eat halaal if they so wish. The constitution does not, however,
allow any religion to impose its laws on others, as in the case of
halaal (Muslims are, afterall, a very small minority, yet every
household in SA consumes halaal).No matter what your religious persuasion, you are a victim of the halaal
scam. The per unit surcharge for halaal may be small but it adds up to
millions of rands that adversely affects consumer prices and,
subsequently, your pocket. What are you going to do about it?
Tony Naidoo
chairman
CONCERNED CITIZENS COUNCIL
084 583 7369
Ike – may I suggest you bring all the roleplayers together and thrash
this thing out: Concerned Citizens Council, Halaal Certification Bodies,
Islamic Theological Councils, Department of Trade and Industry, the
Competition Commission, South African Meat Industry Corporation, major
food manufacturers like Tiger Brands, Rainbow, Clover, Pic ‘n Pay etc.
CCC is a fully-constituted, national consumer advocacy body campaigning
to bring to an end the manner in which halaal is implemented in SA.
Filed under: South Africa, Tony Naidoo | 3 Comments
Tags: halaal, halaal charges, pick n pay, rainbow chickens, South africa halaal, tiger brands, Tony Naidoo
Mr. Naidoo need to get his facts right. Is this an attack on halaal or an attack on islam? seem more like he has some personal problems either with muslims or with islam. The guy from SANHA cant remember his name said that a certified store (e.g debonairs) and a non certified one, the prices remain the same. Price increase on other items sold in shops on the shelves barely has an big increase. He think he has done so much research has he researched how much effort goes into finding out what is halaal compliant? And finally halaal is not forced on any company its optional so that should shut him up.
Why don’t you provide the links to the so called “documented evidence”
Yes we should request for this so called evidence from Mr. Naidoo and see what he comes up with. But if im not mistaken i think this whole thing that he had going on fell on deff ears and nothing hapened.