Cape Town Islamic Educational Centre (CTIEC) in Eagle Park says a burglary at their premises at the end of last year has set them back in their work.
Even though one man has been arrested and some electronics recovered, the organisation says the burglary on Tuesday December 26 has hit them hard.
Captain Wynita Kleinsmith, spokesperson for Grassy Park police, said a man was arrested on Friday December 29. Three laptops, one video camera and a charger had been recovered. The man appeared in the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday January 2 on a charge of possession of stolen goods linked to the case of a business break-in.
Shaykh Sayed Ridhwaan Mohamed, CTIEC spokesperson, said the centre had been raided.
“Still outstanding is one packet with HD Extreme memory cards (approx 8), one Nikon DSLR camera and camera lenses as well as external hard drives and SSDs.”
“We are hopeful that the rest of the stolen items will be recovered soon. We want to extend our heartfelt gratitude to PAGAD, Empire Security, Men in Blue, and the community members for their unwavering support and information,” said Mr Mohamed.
He also had praise for the police.
“As the Cape Town Islamic Educational Centre and Cape Town Ulama Board we wish to commend Colonel Dawood Laing, (former) station commander of the Grassy Park SAPS, for his exceptional leadership and dedication to making sure we root out these criminals. His commitment to upholding the law and ensuring the safety of our streets is commendable,” said Mr Mohamed.
He said although CTIEC is still operational, they need help to recreate their administrative database and media projects.
One of the organisation’s contacts Shameemah Salie, spokesperson for the Al Jama’ah Party, told Southern Mail, the CTIEC is “tech-savvy” and their greatest setback was losing data of organisations who have appealed for help.
“The CTIEC members are very active in supporting the community in need. The CTIEC had been helping many people including fire victims of New Horizon in 2022 and in 2023, youth organisations, etc,” said Ms Salie.
CTIEC was founded in 2011 and it caters for the educational, social and welfare needs within the community.
Mr Mohamed said: “It has a long-term strategic vision to promote religious moderation, effective and sound education, inter-faith dialogue and harmony. The mission of Cape Town Islamic Educational Centre is to strive in imparting Islamic and secular education to produce self-confident, dedicated and responsible members of the society based on true religious and sound moral values for the purpose of educating the community to continue serving selflessly.”
Mr Mohamed said the CTIEC currently had over 14 divisions around the Western Cape which includes welfare, old aged society, soup kitchens, boarding schools, a media division, and afternoon madressas while focusing on education.
If anyone is interested in helping the CTIEC, contact Mr Mohamed at 076 608 6867.