Around 30 pilgrims turned up at the airport with no official confirmation of their flight details on an Air Ethiopia plane via Addis Ababa to Medina in Saudi Arabia. Picture: Armand Hough/African News Agency (ANA)
Cape Town - The South African Hajj and Umrah Council (SAHUC) has urged those left stranded by a Cape Town travel agent to lodge a formal complaint to the Hajj and Umrah Ministry in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA).
Around 30 people, intending to leave to perform the sacred pilgrimage of Umrah, were left stranded at Cape Town International Airport last Wednesday as flights were cancelled.
The individuals reportedly paid over R40 000 for flights and accommodation through New Age SA Travel & Tours started by Shahied Davids.
When contacted last Wednesday, Davids said the flights were not cancelled by him. During an interview with the Voice of the Cape radio station, Davids said the ticket agent cancelled the tickets at the last minute due to Davids not being able to cover the costs of the tickets.
According to Davids, the tickets were fully paid by the ticketing agent.
In a statement, SAHUC secretary-general Hassan Choonara said New Age Travel was not a registered Umrah operator with the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and that those affected should lodge an official complaint with the KSA ministry via the following contact details. KSA number: 920002814; Email: care@haj.gov.sa; X (formerly Twitter): @MOHU__Care.
Those affected have also been told to consider opening a criminal case.
“SAHUC hereby advises the Muslim community that when booking for Umrah, or if you have already booked for Umrah via an operator, ensure that your Umrah operator is a registered Umrah operator, ie: registered with the KSA Ministry of Hajj and Umrah. The list of registered Umrah operators can be found on their website,” the statement read.
“Note that it becomes extremely difficult for the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah to assist with any recourse in the event there arises an unfortunate situation like the above, if a booking is made with a non-registered Umrah operator.
“Advice to Mu’tamireen (Umrah pilgrims) is to always ensure you have a contract, wherein avenues of recourse are clearly stated in the unfortunate event of a contract not being fulfilled.”
Police spokesperson FC van Wyk confirmed that the Grassy Park police station had registered five cases of theft under false pretences for investigation and that the matter was still ongoing.
“There are no new developments to report and no arrests have been made yet,” Van Wyk said.
The National Freedom Party leader in Parliament, Ahmed Munzoor Shaik Emam, said the matter was currently at the Specialised Commercial Crime
Unit and that a detective had been assigned to the matter.
“I’m getting messages from other people who seemed to have similar problems with Shahied Davids previously, not just on Umrah trips but on other holiday trips, including Thailand and other places.
“The unfortunate thing about it is that these people have all paid in full the money that was due to Shahied Davids. He unfortunately did not pay all the money that he ought to have paid in terms of ticketing and accommodation to FlyAirlink.”
According to him, Davids owes more than R200 000 to FlyAirlink for the group that was supposed to leave on December 27.
“He has collected the money, paid a portion and hasn’t paid the balance. What he is running is like a Ponzi scheme.”
A further R360 000 is owed by Davids for current pilgrims in Madina.
shakirah.thebus@inl.co.za