The Programme Director;
Minister Naledi Pandor,
Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Fatima Chohan;
Deputy Minister of Human Settlements, Ms Kota-Fredericks;
Mrs Faridah Omar, the widow of the late Minister Dullar Omar;
The Leadership of the Muslim Community;
Distinguished Guests;
Ladies and Gentlemen:
I thank you for the singular honour to deliver this address at this momentous occasion. May Peace Be Upon All of You.
Islam arrived in South Africa shortly after 1652 when the Dutch East India Company brought with them slaves from Batavia. History attests that in 1654 the first political prisoner from Batavia convicted of insurrection against Dutch rule, arrived in the Cape on a ship called the "Haaselt."
In 1658, a mere four years after Jan Van Riebieck stepped onto the shores of Table Bay, the Mardykers who were a community of people from Aboina in the Southern Moluccas, in today's Indonesia , arrived as labourers in the Cape. This community were adherents of the Islamic faith.
The first Muslims arrived in South Africa as slaves andlabourers under treacherous conditions resulting from discriminatory Cape Dutch laws. This led to some of them later becoming political prisoners resulting from these oppressive conditions.
Their religion had to be practised in secret, their children taught surreptitiously and their culture denied the requisite airing so necessary for vitality.
Muslims have a proud and rich history of struggle against racism and colonialism in South Africa.
Today as we are gathered here on this happy occasion which will begin a new chapter in the story of the Muslim Community in South Africa we recall with humility and pride the rich history and contribution made by Muslims in South Africa.
Today in partnership with the Muslim community, government has been able to accredit over one hundred imams as marriage officers under the 1961 Marriage Act.
This will enable the legal official recognition of the unions of Muslim couples. Out of this initial step we will be able to push back the frontiers of exclusion that have so long been visited on the Muslim community
We are, and have always been convinced, that societies that are inclusive are more successful than those that are exclusive. We are much pleased that as we celebrate 20 years of democracy, the above-stated vision of unity, democracy, non-racialism and non-sexism is slowly becoming a reality in South Africa.
Our strategic vision assumes all the more importance when one considers the challenges facing much of our world today.
Today as ever in modern history differences along the lines of race, religion, ethnicity, gender and artificial issues of this nature have become enough justification for wars, massacres, persecution, exploitation and exclusion as exemplified by events, among others, in the Central African Republic, Somalia and the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
South Africans, who in their past have lived in this dark reality, have a special calling to help contribute to a better world, a world where diversity is celebrated and therefore does not constitute grounds for social discrimination.
In a world that seems intractably struggling with issues of tolerance of diversity- whether it concerns race, ethnicity or religion, it will be South Africa's contribution to humanity at large that we can be the living embodiment of a nation that not only tolerates diversity but celebrates it - and grows stronger by it.
This will be the collective legacy that we will bequeath to future generations.
This idea is not strange to the teachings and philosophy of Islam. The famous Muslim philosopher and poet Rumi speaks to the generosity and humanity of Islam when he says:
"Let the beauty we love be what we do-there are a hundred ways to kneel and kiss the ground "
This is the reason we find like-minded South Africans in the Muslim community, which throughout our history has produced notable freedom fighters, including Sheikh Yusuf, Imam Haroon and Dullah Omar, among others.
It is therefore with a sense of great satisfaction that we can stand here today and witness the title of "Marriage Officers" being conferred to over one hundred Imams who will be graduating today.
I am informed that marriage in Islam is a fulfilment of a human destiny and that justice and honour are the two values that the Holy Qur'an commands for the condition of the Muslim marriage.
As a result of the Imams being designated as Marriage Officers in terms of the Marriages Act (25) of 1961, the registration of Muslim unions will accord Muslim Marriages legal status and with that, the protective instruments of the secular state may be accessed to ensure that these Qur' anic values are realised and complied with, within the Constitutional state.
We congratulate those Imams from the two provinces of KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape who are graduating today.
Impressively we are advised that to pass the two hour exam set by the Learning Academy of the Department of Home Affairs, candidates had to obtain a mark of no less than 70%, and many were able to exceed that requirement.
Let me take this opportunity to wish you all the very best as you begin your new responsibility in the service of our people. May you be successful in your tasks, and may it bring honour, dignity and justice to those you serve.
I thank you!
