On Thursday, August 28, 2025, Imam Rashied Omar and Fatima Shabodien represented the Claremont Main Road Masjid (CMRM) at an interfaith meeting of religious leaders on crime and gang violence hosted by Archbishop Thabo Makgoba at his offices in Bishopscourt.
The meeting was productive and endorsed support for the following initiatives:
- Engagements with the National Acting Minister of Police and provincial Police Commissioners.
- An interfaith consultation in Mitchells Plain on Thursday, September 9, 2025.
- Blessings for the establishment of a Rapid Response Interfaith Support Team.
- Support for the People’s Assembly hosted by the Western Cape Council of Churches on September 24, 2025.
In his input, Imam Rashied emphasised the critical importance of pastoral accompaniment as articulated in the Imam Haron Road Declaration on Gang Violence (adopted on July 16, 2025 at Islamia Auditorium). He explained that pastoral accompaniment means:
- Being present with our suffering communities, especially on the Cape Flats.
- Walking alongside them, listening to their pain, and embodying God’s compassion in their midst. Not prescribing solutions from afar, but sharing in their struggles so that our very presence becomes a source of healing, dignity, and hope.
He concluded by urging that the Mitchells Plain gathering on September 11 embody this theology of accompaniment.
Former SAPS major-general, Jerremy Vearey, represented the Cape Crime Crisis Coalition. Also in attendance was Shaykh Ighsaan Taliep and a delegation from the Western Cape Provincial Council of Churches.
