The City of Cape Town has been placed under the proverbial microscope after reportedly targeting places of worship. This comes after a noise nuisance notice was issued to Muhammadiyah Masjid mosque in Salt River.
According to IOL, the letter appears to be dated 12 May and quotes the Provincial Noise Control Regulations and insists that the mosque immediately reduce the amplified sound after the City’s Noise Control Administration office received a complaint regarding the daily call to prayer.
However, this is in direct contradiction to the City’s “noise nuisances” section of the Streets, Public Places, and Prevention of Noise Nuisances By-Law which does not apply to places of worship operating within appropriate zoning. This comes after the City updated its Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) just last month.
Muslim Judicial Council spokesperson Mujaahid White indicated that they were discussing the matter with the City’s councillors and that the mosque was being guided on “navigating the process” of the SOP, as per News24.
“We must be cognisant that this is the first incident following the implementation of the SOP. It is to be expected that there will be some teething problems,” said White.
“But even in the midst of all of that, the Muslim Judicial Council is prepared to listen to what the complaint is. But if we are compliant with everything else, then we expect the City to act in the protection of the mosque.
“We cannot be a people that do not take note of when a person has a valid complaint, but we also stress that mosques stay within the by-law,” said Muslim Judicial Council Second Deputy President Sheikh Riad Fataar.
However, Fataar further stated that he thought the complaint was “strange,” especially since the mosque has been standing for 100 years. According to him, the by-law needs to be scrapped as “the sound of prayers should not be considered noise.”
“We will not tolerate this type of undermining to take place within our faith communities, and the incident of the Salt River Masjid should be the last time that a place of prayer is served with a noise nuisance notice. We will never stand with a City that calls the sounds of prayer a noise,” he said.
In response, MayCo Member for Community Services and Health, Patricia van der Ross, told Cape {town} Etc that she will “arrange a training session for our officials to train them on the City’s new standard operating procedure on complaints relating to the place of worship” as not all staff have been “sensitised to its requirements”.
Van der Ross added that “no further letters of this sort will go out” and that “we will also contact the mosque to reassure them.”
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Picture: Muhammadiyah Masjid mosque