The order was granted to Isipingo resident Chandra Ellaurie, who last month filed an application for an interdict to silence the call to prayer, to shut down the institution’s operations in the neighbourhood and to sell its property to the State or to a non-Muslim entity.
The institute said that, first, the judge’s differentiation that section 15 of the Constitution regarding freedom of religion “does not guarantee practice or manifestations of religion” such as the call to prayer was “incorrect and artificial” in the circumstances of the case. The institute argued that implicit in the right to freedom of religion was “the absence of coercion and restraint” and the court had “erred” in granting greater weight to Ellaurie’s right to undisturbed use of his property over the Madrasah, its pupils’ and members’ right to freedom of religion.
“An interference with the property rights of another is not actionable as a nuisance unless it is unreasonable.