2000 South African hujaaj are assembling at Arafat on Wednesday for the next leg of the annual hajj. Wednesday marks the 9th of Thul Hijjah and the second day of the holy journey, with more than two million pilgrims gathering on the plains of Arafat in the hopes of having[…]
No South African pilgrims have been reported to be injured in the crane collapse in Makkah on Friday, the South African Haj and Umrah Council (Sahuc) has confirmed. There are scenes of chaos at the Haram-al-Sharif in the holy city as emergency workers clean up the aftermath of the accident,[…]
It’s been a waiting game for hundreds of South African hujjaj who have been stranded at the OR Tambo Airport in Johannesburg since Monday. The situation arose when the airline reported a technical fault with its plane which was expected to depart from OR Tambo Airport on Monday. Around fifty[…]
About twelve more local hujaaj are still waiting for their haj visas from the Saudi Haj Ministry. Just over twenty local hujaaj have already been affected by a glitch in the new integrated system software with local operators that resulted in some South African passports being unreadable. However, Sedick Steenkamp[…]
More than 200 hujaaj left the shores of Cape Town over the past weekend during the first phase of departures for the annual Hajj pilgrimage, with a further 100 departing during the early hours of Monday morning. Capetonians will this year fill around 800 of the 2000 person quota afforded[…]
It is imperative prospective hujjaj clarify the terms of their package prior to signing any agreements with hajj operators, according to the South African Hajj Operators Association (Sathoa). The advice comes with little under a month before Muslims the world over descended upon the holy cities of Makkah and Madina[…]
Umrah operators have reported a decrease in pilgrims performing umrah this Easter than previous years. While thousands of South African mutamireen were seen flocking to the Holy Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to perform their umrah during April in previous years, South African Travel Haj and Umrah Association (SATHOA) chairperson Sedick[…]
VOC once again received calls from a few mu’tamireen and their families who frantically shared their concerns after not receiving any update on their travel arrangements a day before they were expected to depart on umrah. According to a relative of a respective mu’tamireen, who wished to remain anonymous, the[…]
With the beginning of the first umrah season in the new year, a large influx of mu’tamireen has resulted in the Saudi Embassy imposing a quota of 150 visas per company per day. Local mu’tamireen alerted VOC News of setbacks with their visas this week. South African Travel and Hajj[…]
The heads of both the South African Haj and Umrah Council (Sahuc) and South African Travel Operators Association (Sathoa), have hailed the success of this year’s Hajj pilgrimage. The majority of the almost 2000 Hujjaj who undertook the journey have already returned home, with many praising the fluidity and ease[…]
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