Stop the Halaal Trade in South Africa

Every time we (all South Africans - Christians, Non-Christians and non-Muslims) buy a product which bears the halaal certification stamp, we are paying an indirect halaal surcharge/tax.

Because almost all food products and many restaurants in South Africa are already halaal certified, it is almost impossible not to buy halaal certified products. In other words, we are all indirectly forced to buy halaal certified food and pay a halaal “tax” every time we buy food which is our very basic need to survive.

All SA consumers are paying the surcharge for halaal certification. The halaal trade is an Islamic trade system which operates according to the principles and regulations of the religion of Islam. It regards and respects only the religion of Islam. In principle, it benefits only Muslims. Because of its lucrative nature, Muslims gladly participate in it and support it. However, in a country like South Africa where Muslims constitute only about 2% of the population, stamping all the food products as halaal and forcing non-Muslims to pay for the halaal certification is not only unethical but also unconstitutional.

It is even more ridiculous to think that 98% of non-Muslim South Africans will be desperately demanding to eat food offered to the Muslim god and prepared and sold according to Islamic religious regulations. However, worst of all is that we have millions of very poor people in this country who can only buy very basic food. (Kamil Kiroglu and Gate Way News Article)