Home News Muslim NGOs form Covid19 response to support SA Government

Muslim NGOs form Covid19 response to support SA Government

by Salaamedia

Azhar Vadi | 24 March 2020

Muslim NGO’s in South Africa have formed a Covid 19 national response team in an effort to bolster the Solidarity Fund and government lead initiatives to mitigate the impact of the virus in the country.

The multi-disciplinary task team has been assembled under the co-ordination of the Muslim Judicial Council and the Jamiatul Ulama of South Africa along with Awqaf SA and the ASRI think tank.

There are currently 554 cases of confirmed Covid 19 cases in the country but this number is expected to increase rapidly.
On Monday, 23 March 2020, President Cyril Ramaphosa, announced the imposition a national lockdown effective from 23.59 on Thursday night, 26 march 2020.

The move to defeat the virus is expected to have a massive impact on the economy of South Africa leading to potentially 1 million job losses.

The Covid 19 Muslim response document noted that the, “The greatest fear is that the rapid spread of the virus can affect tens of thousands of people living in vulnerable conditions; overwhelm the public health system; disrupt learning and teaching in public schools and madrassahs across the country for an extended period.”

The group also endorsed the measures implemented by Ramaphosa and by Tuesday morning had pooled R1million in funds as immediate aid expenditure.

Speaking to Salaamedia, Efficient Group chief economist, Dawie Roodt mirrored the concern for the financial stability of the country with expected growth in the second quarter of 2020 to be around -10%.

“This is not an extended holiday, explained Roodt. As they say, time is money and if we don’t produce in a certain period of time then it is literally costing you money. People are staying at home but they are still making use of electricity, they are still eating and those sort of thing are not cheap or free. We were simply not prepared for this.

“There’s a saying in economics, a day lost in production, is a day lost forever.”

To support the work of the National Muslim Task Team: Use this link to the google form:
https://bit.ly/3bsW2t3

To Report Unethical Business Practices: Use this Form:
https://bit.ly/2WGnSOi

To contribute to the Covid19 Scenario and Response Plan Document please click here:
https://bit.ly/2UebS4G

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