OUR HISTORY

MINACSA Founding background

 

The constant complaints and reports of the working conditions, poor salaries and governance issues made it urgently necessary to initiate a composite dialogue with all stakeholders to find a short-term and long-term solution for the prevailing problem which is equitable and acceptable by all concerned.

 

These initiatives were born out of the discussion and heated debate on Whatsapp discussion form and it was seen as an urgent need that we should form a focused discussion group to deliberate, discuss and find a creative way to find a solution which concerns Ummah at large.

 

We invited over 120 Alims, Imams, Mauzzins, Apas, Ustads, trustees and management members of various organization across South Africa and among them are over 40 different NGOs and religious institutes of note to discuss this critical issue and find a solution.

 

We were informed that there had been similar initiatives like IDP and HoU’s imam development programs, we ask for input and their alliance to make one unified national program which is non-partisan and non-sectarian and also acceptable all concerned.

  

With robust and frank discussion we have come to the following formula to resolve the issue:

There number of model one can look into them for the short term and long term maintenance of the Masjids/jamat Khanas and its employees.

 

1. Short term-limited subsidy

2. Short term unlimited subsidy

3. Long-term sustainable solution limited to currency of situation

Diagnosis:

The prevailing problem noted and reported from various masjids/jamat khanas across the country are threefold.

A, Staff members do not  get paid enough ( fiscal resources scarcity )

B, Staff doesn’t get paid enough and on time ( fiscal resources scarcity & governance issue )

C,  Staff doesn’t get paid enough on time and unprofessional  handling of issues related to it by Trustees or Mancom ( fiscal resources scarcity, governance issue & ethical issues )

 

The common denominators are ( Fiscal resources & Governance issue ), not easy to overcome but it can be resolved if Ummah at large wishes to do so.

 

Remedial recommendation:

Studying Masjids/Jamat khanas around the world there are commonalities in the all successful models applied to maintain and employees social and welfare, these are as follows:

They all have built on following components,

1. Provisionlism.

2. Traditionalism.

3. Fiscalism.

The best practices were introduced in the times of Abbasids, Ummaydis and Ottoman empire Waqf systems both localize and nationalized. (Please refer to documents section for the download of full paper )