AL JAMA-AH has called for radical transformation of the economy including expedited land reform as well as an overhaul of what it describes as a white judicial system.
The party launched its manifesto for the 2024 National and Provincial Elections in the predominantly Muslim area of Lenasia, south of Johannesburg where it also called for unity of black parties.
Delivering its offering for the electorate party leader Ganief Hendricks said the May 29 poll was a “black against white” affair lamenting what he calls thirty wasted years under ANC rule.
While calling out the ANC for failures in government, Hendricks did not spare the DA accusing the party of hijacking power through the courts.
“That is what we are sitting with. The courts have taken over the country, the executive is not in charge, parliament is not in control because the courts are reversing every decision we take,” he said.
Hendricks said the official opposition had systematically taken advantage of the “untransformed judiciary” to usurp power and called for radical action after the elections.
“You must know the DA goes to court on every issue. If its not an act of parliament, it is a motion, it is a project and they run to the courts to reverse those decisions, they have the courts running the country but the bill has been passed by the people through parliament, there was public consultation covering all corners of the country but the DA would want to find some technicality to reverse the will of the people,” he said.
He said ideally the judiciary should be functioning in a manner that accommodated the unique circumstances of Africans including cultural norms.
“You’ve heard what President Zuma says. He’s a respected resistance fighter, he’s worked the ground, he has appointed half of those judges so he has before him judges that don’t understand African justice, we need a judiciary that understands African justice. I will soon tell the president when he asks me about his nominee for chief justice, that she will not be able to dispense African justice because like all of them she’s trained in western law.
“Recently we had a judge shocked as to why there was an all white team of attorneys in front of him when the matter involved white people so if we make it into government we will set aggressive targets for transforming the judiciary, have more black faces, women, people living with disabilities, those should be included in the judiciary,” he said in reference to a recent incident.
A delegation from the Pan Africanist Congress attended the launch as part of ongoing efforts to forge working relations among parties that identify as black and Hendricks said coloured and Indian communities should not allow themselves to be categorised as being different from blacks.
“We must not confuse our people by saying coloured this, Indian that, what is that, they are black. In AL JAMA-AH there are no Indians and coloureds, they are black and blacks suffered and continue to be marginalised. That’s that, there’s blacks who are poor and then whites who benefited from apartheid and continue to dominate every sector of the economy so whites must realise that they need to pay reparations starting with the land.”
AL JAMA-AH has one seat in the National Assembly and the Western Cape legislature respectively as well as 9 local government seats scattered among several municipalities including the City of Johannesburg where its Gauteng chairperson Thapelo Ahmed served for a short stint as mayor and was replaced by the party’s Secretary General Kabelo Kamwendo who has been in office for over a year.
Hendricks said the two had done exceptionally well in Johannesburg and also praised the party for convincing the Home Affairs department to ensure that the NIKAH ( Muslim marriage) is recognised and can be registered on the National Population Register.
AL JAMA-AH also registered to contest the elections in the Eastern Cape but did not field any candidates allowing the PAC to field its own as part of cooperation between the two parties.