The Muslim Community of South Africa, represented by numerous social welfare, emergency relief and civil society organisations have heard the call of  President Cyril Ramaphosa to assist the poor and vulnerable during the 21-day lockdown period.

“We have immediately expended R1m in aid spending and resources to assist with the immediate priorities as announced by the President, and make available the human resources and implementation capacity of our community and civil society organisations to assist the Solidarity Fund to meet its primary mandate, that of providing a social safety net to the poor and vulnerable in our society during the 21-day lockdown period,” said MJC’s Maulana Abdul Khaliq Allie.

“This R1 million is an immediate response to the President’s call and is in the process of being expended in poor and vulnerable communities across the country. A quantification of the collective Muslim community expenditure on the National Covid Response will be collated and released weekly.”

An SA Muslim COVID-19 Response Team has been initiated. Further coordinated support mechanisms will be announced once discussions are concluded with various stakeholders.

“We’d also like to note that the MJC is a part of national disciplinary task team that includes other institutions, and organizations it is one that we are proud to say that this is in direct response to the challenges are communities are facing,” added Maulana Allie.