The Muslim Judicial Council has called on government to suspend load shedding over the weekend for Labarang.
The MJC issued a letter to the president and minister of electricity yesterday, asking government to keep the lights on as Muslims will be celebrating Eid-ul-Fitr to mark the end of Ramadaan.
Eskom instituted stages 5 and 6 load shedding this week.
MJC president Shaykh Irafaan Abrahams says Eid-ul-Fitr is a day of happiness.
“Families will congregate, cook family meals, and share in the essence of joy and togetherness. The prevalence of load shedding these days will impede Muslims from experiencing the full extent of such quality family time through rather obvious manifestations of load shedding.”
He added in recent times, “and rightly so“, load shedding was suspended to accommodate South Africans celebrating holy days such as Christmas and Easter.
“The Muslim Judicial Council (MJC-SA) herewith requests your indulgence in appropriating a suspension of load shedding during the Eid celebrations,” the letter to the president states.
Farieda Samsodien from Delft says her Eid feast is in jeopardy.
“The electricity was also an issue last year, we had to cook on fire because there was no electricity and the same thing is happening this year.”
Farieda runs a soup kitchen at the Jumuah Masjied in Voorbrug and is planning to cook 20 to 30 pots of food for her open air Eid lunch over the weekend to feed the less fortunate.
“I invested in a big gas stove but I didn’t have money to fill it up because the price of gas increased so much. So for Friday evening, we have opted to cook on fire outside because we already know that there is not going to be electricity.”
marsha.dean@inl.co.za