Al-Qalam 
Muslims have reacted with anger to local news reports that claimed the high number of Covid-19 deaths amongst Muslims was disproportionate to their small population, writes an Al-Qalam Reporter.
An article in The Witness, and subsequently featured on the online media platform of News 24, claiming that there was “disproportionate” Covid-19 deaths among SA Muslims has caused alarm and outrage in the community because it feeds into a Islamophobia narrative “and perhaps even creating racial tension in our country”.
The Witness Reporter, Niyanta Singh, wrote: “Medical and other experts have expressed concern over what they say is a “disproportionate rate of deaths from Covid-19 in the Muslim community compared to their population size nationally”.
Next to the second article on News 24, there was an illustrative stock photo of a large congregation of Muslims standing shoulder to shoulder during Eid Salah – but this photo was taken somewhere overseas most likely prior to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The reporter quoted the latest figures from Muslim Stats SA “showing that as at August 2, some 610 members of the community had died from Covid-19 (7,29% of all Covid-19 deaths in South Africa)”.
But Muslim Stats SA claims that the reporter did not verify certain facts with them, before going to press – and she came for some flack.
She quoted from a written report authored by Dr Zameer Brey, a health systems analyst, in which he pointed out that the purpose of the data collection was to raise awareness in the Muslim community, and for them to be vigilant.
After the article appeared in the two news publications, outraged Muslims bombarded Muslim Stats SA to ask what was going on. They explained to callers that the articles and photo were partially misrepresented. They had never mentioned that there was a “disproportionate” Covid-19 related death rate among SA Muslims.
Apology
This week, Mohammed Wadee of Muslim Stats SA, wrote a strongly-worded letter to The Witness and to News 24 demanding an apology.
Addressing Niyanta Singh, he wrote: “For the record, I contacted you telephonically on the evening of 04 August 2020 wherein you acknowledged and apologised for not contacting Muslim Stats SA, Dr Zameer Brey or anyone else that you have quoted or referenced in your article whatsoever.”
He pointed out to her and the editors of the two publications that the photo used with the story was NOT of any Muslim Eid gathering in South Africa – and that the publication of the photo gave the wrong impression that Muslims in South Africa were not adhering to social distancing rules.
Wadee told her: “Had you contacted us prior to publishing your article, we would have explained that we serve the Muslim Community in seeking to create awareness regarding the dangers of the pandemic. As with all other religions having their own cultures and unique practices, the need to address the unique challenges faced by the Muslim community in South Africa is also vital to curb the spread of the virus.”
“Your article serves the purpose of feeding Islamophobia and perhaps even creating racial tension in our country by portraying that Muslims have a ‘disproportionate’ fatality rate whilst not even verifying the facts either by contacting us, verifying the information or investigating fatality rates within other religious groups.”
“We have also been inundated with complaints and accusations from the Muslim Community of falsely portraying the Muslim community of South Africa in a negative light as the direct result of your article. We place on record that we were unaware of the article prior to it been published and were not contacted by yourself either. We neither have any trace of your attempts to contact us. Our contact information is on all our media platforms.”
The organization demanded that the article be rectified with a printed apology from Niyanta Singh (the reporter) and The Witness/News 24 addressing its concerns.
“We require an apology directly addressed to Muslim Stats and Dr Zameer Brey in the same regard from both yourself, The Witness and News 24.”
“We also require that News 24 publishes the same apology and retraction as required from you and The Witness. Whilst the said photograph has been removed by News 24, the harm has already occurred.”
