Religious Prejudice
Religious prejudice has been around for a very, very long time and implies negative behaviors and attitudes among people of different religious groups, purely because of their differing religious beliefs and practices; each claiming exclusivity over heaven. Christianity however has been the most prejudice of all, because it forced its Christian doctrine on whomever and whatever religious practice they encountered, that opposed or conflicted theirs. Even accusing Islam of converting Christians by the sword. The blame game continues and every country have religious problems to some degree or the other among their various religious groups and denominations.
Ireland has issues with Protestantism and Catholicism. China with its belief in Buddhism have issues with Christianity; forcibly demolishing their places of worship throughout its region. India with its belief in Hindusism have issues with Islam resulting in Tamil extremist burning several Mosques to the ground. Zionist Israel has had a 70 year long, and still on going war against Islam and the Palestinian Muslims. The closest Israel came to destroying the Al-Aqsa mosque; is that the Israeli government funded an app that visually destroys Al-Aqsa by replacing it with a Jewish Temple. In the same vane, the rest of the world also seem to want to destroy Islam at their own peril.
Islamophobia
The University of California Berkeley and the Council on American–Islamic Relations released a report, estimating that $206 million was funded to 33 groups whose sole and primary purpose was "to promote prejudice against, Islam and Muslims". This took place in the United States between 2008 and 2013, with a total of 74 groups contributing to Islamophobia in the United States during that same period. The Stop Islamization of America (SIOA) organisation even generated media publicity by sponsoring billboards in New York subway stations alleging that 19,250 terrorist attacks have been committed by Muslims since 9/11 and stating "it's not Islamophobia, but Islamorealism."
Islam
Islam is the belief in the Oneness of God, a religion based on monotheism. Islam is the last of the Abrahamic religions, identical to the moral teaching of Judaism and Christianity but on a completely different level. A level to which the other "monotheistic religion's" adherents have not ascended to as yet, or rather are ascending to, but very slowly. Muslims accept both Moses and Jesus as divinely inspired prophets, as mentioned in both the Old and New Testaments. Islam is also the fastest growing religion in the world, constantly winning over adherents from other religions, however it's not just a religion; but a complete way of life. A way of life originally demonstrated by both Moses and Jesus. Muslims as a whole base their way of life on the tenets of the divinely revealed Holy Qur'an and the life examples of our Beloved Prophet Muhammad (SAW). The Islamic jurisprudence derived from Qur'an is referred to as the law - Shariah; and the real life examples of our Beloved Prophet Muhammad (SAW), referred to as the Sunnah, is enshrined in innumerable verified narrations commonly known as Hadith, that calls towards God consciousness, piety and righteousness.
Muslims
As such, there are a great many practicing Muslims earnestly striving in obedience to the Shariah and Hadith, in character, in speech, in social interaction, in kindness, in dress, in their business practices and so many other aspects of life. For example, fairness to their fellow man, observing good ties with their kinsfolk, feeding the orphans, are punctual in their prayers, give charity and pray for forgiveness, among so many other deeds of good intent. Occasionally some of them may err but their conscience and natural demeanor invariably makes them regret their poor judgement and apologize to those whom they may have aggrieved, and alternatively make restitution in some other way or form, like fasting, feeding the poor, giving charity and praying for forgiveness. The bulk of these Muslims the world over are not terrorists or jihadist as main stream would want you to believe. They are considered mainstream Muslims; however there are those "Muslims" who exist on the fringes of Islam,
Black Sheep
Specifically those who openly profess Islam with the tongues, but outwardly exhibit their foul and arrogant ways, have rude mannerisms, practice poor business ethics, lie, cheat, steal and even deceive, maim and plunder. In a nutshell they practice selective obedience to Shariah and Hadith, if at all, thus justifying their actions with their skewed, obscure and limited or sometimes over zealous understanding of Islam. These are the black sheep of Islam.
Hostiles
As a matter of fact, you can find them in every household, in every family, in every community, among every race, and among every nation throughout the world. Whether singularly or severally, they are the miscreants who give Muslims a bad name; and double-up as the worst poster boards for Islam per se. Their abhorrent and repugnant demeanours makes non-Muslims frown upon the religion of Islam, judge and distrust righteous Muslims based on the actions of these miscreants, resulting in hostilities towards Muslims as a whole, to the point that some non-Muslims, vent their frustrations on the Qur'an by setting it on fire.
Extremists
Be that as it may, the American media catergorise these miscreants as "Muslim religious extremists" because of their violent activity; some even calling them jihadists; placing them in the same category as the Irish Republican Army (IRA) "terrorists", the African National Congress (ANC) "terrorists", the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) "terrorists", Al-Qaeda "terrorists" and Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) "terrorists" even though to this day, there is no International consensus on the legal definition of terrorism. Simply, because one mans freedom fighter is another mans terrorist.
Christian terrorist
Having said that, the American media and its politicians are doing the American public a huge disservice by creating the impression that terrorism is an exclusively Islamist phenomenon. According to a report published by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), titled “The Age of the Wolf”, more people have been killed in America by non-Islamic domestic terrorists than jihadists. Adding that even though the “the jihadist threat is a tremendous one,” and the deadliest in U.S. history. The second deadliest was not carried out by Islamists, but by Timothy McVeigh in Oklahoma City. It appears that ultimate sin in America is mentioning that Christianity has a dark side. For a look at other Christian terrorist organisations click here.
Presidential Prejudice
Moving on, one just has to observe the reactions of Americans to witness their hate crimes against Muslims living in their predominantly non-Muslim societies. Especially when considering that the American President went as far as to place a ban on Muslims from 11 Muslims countries, preventing them from entering America. By implication, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has failed miserably in their mandate. USCIRF is an independent body established by the U.S. Federal Government Commission, its Commissioners appointed by the President and the leadership of both political parties in the Senate and the House of Representatives. USCIRF objectives and purpose is to advise the President, the Secretary of State, and Congress and to make policy recommendations on issues of "International Religious Freedom".
Hate Crimes
Somehow it seem that USCIRF was far too preoccupied with their "Religious Prisoner of Conscience Project" than to be bothered with the rights of the unincarcerated 3.45 million Muslims living in America. In an FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) report, namely "Hate Crime Statistics Report" dated 2015, it states that 21.9% of people assaulted in the United States, were victims of Anti-Islamic bias; and that Anti-Muslim hate crimes in the United States rose 67%, from 154 incidents in 2014 to 257 in 2015. These stats are but minuscule when compared to the fatalities of Muslims that resulted directly from the American occupation Anti-Islam wars against Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine, Syria and Jordian etc.
Burning Mosques
To add insult to injury, look at the amount of Mosques that were bombed in places like Ypsilanti in Michiganin, Tucson in Arizona, Bloomington in Minnesota, Huntsville and Hoover in Alabama, Davis in Roseville, Sacramento in California, Miami, New Tampa, Port St. Lucie and Tampa in Florida, to mention but a few. Alphabetically speaking, bombings took place in almost every state, from Alabama to West Virginia and just last year, 63 publicly reported incidents occurred, where mosques were targets of threats, vandalism or arson. Islamophobia had thus become imprinted on the psyche of Americans at large, to the point that Muslims are continuously harassed where ever they may be.
Religious Freedom?
What has happened to religious freedom? Doesn't Muslims have the right and good reason to say that they feel disrespected by those in the West? As such, one also has the right to question the establishment of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). Having said that, the American media and its politicians capitalize on public fear and distrust of Muslims and constantly exacerbate tensions through Anti-Muslim propaganda. Be that as it may, this level of anti-Muslim prejudice and Islamophobia isn't only confined to America nor did they invent it.
The Start of Prejudice
In the early days of Islam in Mecca, during the 7th century, the new Muslims were constantly subjected to abuse, many of them persecuted, tortured and killed by the pagan Meccans. Much later during the time of the First Crusade, due to Anti-Islam bias, the crusaders killed every Muslim inhabitant of Jerusalem. Much later during the Rule of Roman Empereor Frederick II, virtually every Muslims in Sicily, Malta and Lucera was either massacred, forcibly converted, enslaved or exiled due to their religious bias.
Prejudice at its height
The Iberian Peninsula under Christian rule introduced legislation to remove Islam, culminating in Muslims being killed or forced to convert to Catholicism by the Spanish Inquisition. Under the Sikh Empire and the occupation of Samana, the Sikh army massacred in excess of 10,000 unarmed Muslim men and women. And in the Siege of Sirhind, Banda Singh Bahadur ordered that all men, women and children of Sirhind be executed or burned alive. In Southeastern Europe more than 5 million Muslims were driven out of their homes by the Serb army and a further 5 million were killed or died of disease and starvation while fleeing. Tens of thousands of Muslims Albanians and Turks were Massacres during both the Greek Revolution and the Balkan Wars, all done in a manner that by today's standards would be characterized as ethnic cleansing. This was done so effectively that virtually no Muslims remained in Thessaly and only a few thousand in Crete.
Prejudice in the East
In Cambodia about half a million Cham Muslims were killed, exterminated by Cambodia communists and according to Cham sources, 132 mosques were destroyed. Only 20 of the most prominent Cham clergy out of its previous 113 survived the Khmer Rouge period. During the Sino-Japanese War, the Hui Muslim county of Dachang was vanquished by the Japanese with their policy of deliberate humiliation referred to as the "killing policy" and in the process destroyed as many as 220 mosques. After the Rape of Nanking, mosques in Nanjing were found to be filled with dead bodies. During the French conquest of Algeria approximately 850,000 indigenous Algerians were killed, because genocidal hatred was the French way of echoing "expel the native and if necessary destroy him." From the time of WWII to present day, countless Muslims have been massacred and the International community calls the massacred terrorist whereas the on a global scale, the Muslims were the terrorized.
Prejudice is learnt
1. Concerned Christians - is a Christianist doomsday cult intent on killing Muslims, who infiltrated Israel with the intention of destroying the Al Aqsa Mosque.
2. The Phineas Priesthood - is a White supremacist groups or rather Christian Identity movement having white supremacist ideology based on Christianist terrorism agaist Muslims.
3. The Army of God - is a violent Christianists network, openly promoting killing abortion providers. Several of its members were executed by lethal injection many serving life imprisonment.
4. The Ku Klux Klan - is a white American supremacist, radical right hate group with some 8,000 Klan members nationwide, who physical assault and murder individuals whom they opposed. They are famous for burning huge wooden crosses.
5. Neo-Nazism - is a post-World War II militant movements with a international network, with representation in many countries seeking to revive employ Nazi doctrine ideology to promote hatred, racism, xenophobia, homophobia, antisemitism.
6. The Montana Freemen - is a "Christian Patriot movement" convicted of terrorism because of their doctrine of individual sovereignty which rejected the authority of the federal government of the United States.
Prejudice based on Ignorance
Over a period of 29 years there has been a Mass shooting an average of every 200 days without fail. A mass shooting is defined as an indiscriminate rampages in public places resulting in four or more victims killed. As average of 300,000 Americans have died in gun relate incidents over the past 50 years, amounting to 1.5 million Americans dead prematurely or unnecessary. America has the highest gun related deaths in the world with its suicide rate almost double its homicide rate.
Smuggling Illicit Contraband
The crime level in South Africa is virtually doubling annually. Therefore, most South Africans wouldn't feel comfortable carrying large sums of cash on their person due to the risk of potentially being robbed. In fact most of them wouldn't dream of transporting more than 100 thousand rands personally. They would rather use bank transfers to move money unless they have something to hide. So, who in their right mind would honestly believed that they could smuggle large sums of money through airport customs checkpoints by just covering it up with cloths, hopping not to get caught.
Controversy
Contrary to popular believe, there are some controversial people who would in fact do just that, though it is completely legal to take R25,000 or less out of the country. However, the question that begs to be answered is, Is this real money or is it counterfeit? My reasoning is, that if fake South African money is sent to and spent in foreign counties, where International Shopping Centers and people in general do not know the security features built into the South African Currency, they would uncerimoniously accept it as legal tender. The same applies to US dollars. If for example, US Dollars are distributed in Dubai, where US Dollars are readily accepted, few people would realise that they've been conned until its too late.
Follow the money
About three months ago, a 27 year old man was nabbed at OR Tambo International Airport preventing him from departing for Mauritius. Acting on intelligence or rather a "tip-off", his luggage was intercepted by Gauteng police and searched. After rummaging through his suitcases customs officials found 10 "cigarette carton sized" packs collectively containing R6,993 million in bank notes. The cash was made up of $199.300 US dollars and R4.5m South African rands. The contraband was impounded by the forfeiture unit and the suspect was arrested and charged with contravening the Customs and Excise Act. He appeared in the Johannesburg Commercial Crimes Court the following Monday considering the arrest happened on the Friday before.
Counterfeits - Funny Money
Based on my assumtion that I voiced above, it doesn't make logic sense for anyone to be in possesion of R2 million worth of US Dollars in cash in South Africa of all palces, unless its funny money. So as much as the above controversial case and those below made the headlines, it could be a ploy of some criminal syndicate to keep the SAPS, SSA, DPCI and the Hawks busy, chasing their own tails, while the real action is happening elsewhere.
Hardly 5 months later, two people were once again arrested at OR Tambo International Airport with undeclared US currency worth more than R6 million. Customs officials intercepted the passengers as they were about to board their flight enroute to Dubai. When their luggage was inspected, two manilla envelopes containing $83 000 US Dollars was found hidden under their clothing. The money was seized and criminal charges of "failure to declare as well as currency smuggling" has been opened against both passengers.
US Dollars
Once again, its a cache of US Dollars found in South Africa trying to make its way to Dubai specifically. In September 2018 alone, there going to be 68 Trade Fairs taking place in Dubai. Whoever has a stall at any of those Trade Fairs would be fair game for these "smugglers" of counterfeit money. Why they even call it funny money is beyond me because its really not funny when you realize that you've been hoodwinked out of your possessions in exchange for paper not fit to be even used in a toilet.
Some six months later a 38-year-old Pietermaritzburg man was arrested at Cape Town International Airport whilst trying to take more than R10 million with him to the United Arab Emirates. The Hawk’s Serious Commercial Crime Unit seized the cash and and arrested him. He subsequently appeared in Bellville Magistrate’s Court for contravening the Customs and Excise Act 91/1994 by failing to declare the money.
By now you should be on my wavelength regarding taking large sums of money to the middle east. In the above case there wasn't any dollars involved but that doesn't mean that there wouldn't be a buyer who would readily buy up this money at a quarter or third of its real value.
South African Rands
About a year prior, a 30-year-old man was arrested at King Shaka International Airport in Durban with more than R12 million of undeclared cash in his luggage. Apparently the Airport Police received a "tip-off" about a certain passenger who would be leaving South Africa with a large sum of money, this, after he already boarded the plane. After his luggage was offloaded, his bags were scanned and all 7 bags showed proof of hidden currency. The bags were subsequently opened in his presence and upon counting it, the currency amounted to a cool R12 229 200 South African Rands. The dude was placed under arrest and appeared in the Verulam Magistrate's Court on charges of contravention of the currency and exchange act.
The above case also doesn't involve any US Dollars. So like I said before, there may be a buyer if it is counterfeit, but what if it isn't. Having said that, there has been a spate of "cash in transit heists" over the past year. I understand that banks record all bank note serial numbers before it is shipped anywere, so if this "counterfeit money" is genuine South African money, it may in fact be the spoils of "cash in transit heists" . It may be the thieves way of attempting to render the serial numbers of the bank notes untraceable by getting them out of the country.
As recent as yesterday, a female student enroute to Hong Kong was arrested by South African Revenue Service (Sars) officials as she boarded a flight at OR Tambo International Airport. She had bundles of US dollars to the value of nearly R10 million in cash in her hand luggage. After counting the cash, it amounted to $630 700. When questioned, she admitted that she had $650 000 US dollars in her backpack but that it didn't belong to her's par se. Neither could she identify who the cash actually belonged to. She was booked for currency smuggling and for failure to declare it.
In the above case, we only have US dollars, more than 600 000 of them. Of all the currencies in the world, it appears that US Dollars are the easiest to counterfeit. Not because it only has two colours and its security features aren't very high, but because it has a favourable exchange rate hence and presents no big challenge for the skilled counterfeiter.
Counterfeiters
Having said all that, not too long ago three men were arrested in Pretoria. They were found in possession of a substantial amount of suspected counterfeit bank notes. Acting on a "tip-off", the local police raided a unit inside a block of flats and arrested the suspects. They had stored the counterfeit bank in a lock-garage, packed into stacks of bags and boxes. The cash resembled US dollars and South African rands and amounted to $1.4 million but appeared to be of a low quality.
I rest my case!
A collaboration between Acsa (the Airports Company of SA), SAPS (SA Police Service), Asset Forfeiture Unit (NPA), DPCI (Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation) and the State Security Agency (SSA) are dealing with illicit cash and contraband flowing through our South African gateways and borders.
A Sad Day
The democratic Constitution of South African is flaunted as the primo constitution globally. It enshrines the most important rules of the county's political system in order to protect the rights of its peoples. In a nutshell it highlights the values that must guide South Africa and its people as a whole.
The constitution also defines what their powers are, and how it may be use by them. It gives insight to how Parliament and the other legislatures work. It explains how the national and provincial executives are chosen and how the South African courts function. As the supreme law of the country, the Constitution established 6 institutions to support South African democracy, further flanked by 14 chapters, viz Parliament, the Bill of rights, the Founding Provisions, the Courts and the administration of justice, etc.
The South African courts function independently, yet and only subject to the Constitution and the law, which they are compelled to apply without bias - impartially. Its Conciliation Boards and Industrial Court of old, lacked credibility among organised business and organised labour, because under their ineffective adversarial model of operation, a mere or a rather measly 20% of all disputes were settled.
As such, the Industrial Court was subsequently replaced by the CCMA. Armed with the amended LRA of 1995 and its somewhat informal relations model, one that promotes greater co-operation and social justice, the CCMA now boasts a dispute resolution figure of over 70%. The question that begs to be answered is, "Is that really good enough for a country the boasts the best constitution in the world"? Having said that, take cognisance that a good 30% is falling through the cracks. Or a good 30% of is people is being fed a plate of injustice. Or a good 30% of perpetrators of injustice are getting away scot free, totally unchecked.
When an employee feels that he or she is unfairly dismissed from work without any procedural conformity, or without severance pay or is sexually harassed or plagued by any other work related gripe, he or she then has the right to refer it to the CCMA. As such the CCMA provides recourse against exploitation, harassment, discrimination, unfair labour practice, disciplinary hearings and so many other off beat practices. Employers on the other hand, also have recourse against employees who make fraudulent declarations on CV's, sleep on the job, steal company property, have incapacity, display misconduct and operational requirements, but the list goes on. Essentially a mechanism of the state to assisted both employees and employers against the wrath of one another.
CCMA stands for Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA); a body established in terms of the Labour Relations Act, 66 of 1995 (LRA), focused on dispute resolution. The objective of its formation was the need to bring SA labour law into conformity with the SA Constitution as well as with International Law and its guidelines are enshrined in a 333 page document, downloadable here!
So, before you refer a dispute to the CCMA, be sure that it has merit. Never refer a dispute that doesn't have any, because it would just be a waste of your and your employers time, a waste of tax payers money and serve as an injustice to fellow employees whose referrals could have been expedited. It could be worth your while to consult said document and see how it relates to your dispute and what your chances of success are.
But and a very big but at that, dispute referrals have a time constraint, a "sell by date" if you like. To elaborate, "dismissal disputes", fair or not, expires in 30 days whereas "unfair labour practice" expires in 90 days. In fact the entire LRA of 1995 is time sensitive to the point that whole document borders on being annul about "within 14 days", "within 21 days", "within 30 days", "within 60 days" and "within 90 days".
If for example you have a watertight case of dismissal against your employer but fail to submit within the 30 day prescribed period, you're standing on the edge of a really deep precipice. The CCMA may condone a submission if it shows "good cause", implying that you need to complete a condonation form which covers "the degree of lateness of your the referral; the reason for the lateness; the prospects of success based on its merits; and the prejudice you stand to suffer if condonation is not granted". A really slippery slope.
The outcome of condonation "showing good cause" is subject to the commissioner's leniency and it's gona be "A Sad Day" when he or she figuratively flushes your watertight case down the drain without even looking at it. Talk about rock bottom - slippery slope - deep precipice.
But allow me to divert from the topic ever so slightly. The statute of limitations is best described as a statute that prescribes a "period of limitation" in which to bring about actions of a certain kinds. For example, murder, treason and sexual abuse of a minor child is deemed far too heinous to warrant any limitation. Whereas, the statute of limitations for rape varies based on the severity of the assault but can be anything from 3 to 30 years after the criminal act, depending on the state and country.
South Africa has numerous and varying laws which specify prescription periods as a "rule of law", specifically designed to bring finality to an issue. However "Prescription" is inappropriate for sexual offenses, because instead of fulfilling its intended purpose of penalizing victims for not reporting a crime, in effect it penalized them for being unable to report the crime due to the trauma it caused, not to mention the fear of reprisal. Very peculiarly, most rape victims aren't even aware of prescription as a law, even though the law pundits tout that "ignorance of the law is no excuse", expecting all citizens to know what they know.
I can hypothetically equate this "within 30 or 90 day prescription" to a rape case, where the raped doesn't lay a charge timeously and the perpetrator /offender goes scot free or is rather given the licence by the legal system to continue raping unencumbered. Restated, if an employer is guilty of firing employees left, right and centre and if none of them ever had any previous dealings with the CCMA they would all, more likely than not, be totally oblivious of its time frames, thus all guilty of referring their disputes late.
If their condonation doesn't "show good cause", all these employees would feel violated (raped) by there employer yet unable to do anything about it, because the system is flawed. The CCMA or rather the "rule of law" hereby emphatically dismisses the employees legitimate gripe, thus further punishing him/her fairly heavily and to add insult to injury, awards criminal employers a licence to continue to dish out further injustices on as many other employees as they likes, totally unencumbered. Where's the human dignity, the equality, the human rights and the freedoms enshrined in this all encompassing constitution? It's high time that "Prescription on dismissal must fall".
I'm certain if a survey is done on how many employees missed the deadline for referring disputes to the CCMA, because of their unfamiliarity with the law, it would be devastatingly high. Probably much higher than their conflict resolution dispute success rate of 70% because their workload would then only constitute 30% of all cases anyway. Is this democratic progress? Or is our legal system regressing all its people to rape victims, violated by their employers, while the "rule of law" looks upon the act with a smile on its face.
