Dr Michael Cassidy founder of African Enterprise reflects on the Awakening South Africa National Day of Prayer and Repentance last Saturday

It was a very great joy and privilege to have been invited by Rachel Kalidass to give the keynote address at the Awakening South Africa, National Day of Prayer and Repentance held on Saturday March 22 2025.

The venue of the auditorium at FNB Stadium set the occasion physically at the centre of the nation’s life, and I believe the Lord also set it spiritually at the centre of a new chapter in the life of the South African Church and nation.

The three hundred or so invited attendees impressed me very much with their high calibre and significance across the board of South African life, ranging from young people and ex-gangster leaders through to parliamentarians, business leaders, those involved in controlling the banking sector, as well as various Church leaders.

The occasion also seemed to mark a moment of transition and of handing over leadership from the present generation to a younger one.

But perhaps the most consequential aspect of the whole day was the extended time of repentance from top leaders for sins and failures in their arenas of responsibility, such as politics and government, finance and the economy, Afrikaans NGK (for apartheid), African culture (for witchcraft, spiritism, and ancestor worship), and so on.

The fact is that the Lord forgiving our sin and healing our land is predicated, as we know from 2 Chronicles 7:14, on “humbling ourselves and praying, seeking His face and turning from our wicked ways”. The Lord has said unequivocally clearly that this is what we must do, and then He will work the miracles of transformation and healing in our land.

As I listened to all these items, I felt that the two which brought forth the greatest response of affirmation were, firstly, repentance from spiritism and ancestor worship, and then secondly, gangsterism and violence among our youth.

The ancestor worship is particularly serious, and it is prevalent from the lowest to the highest sectors of our society, because it leads people to put their trust somewhere other than in God Himself, which is idolatry.

As the author/scholar Afrika Mhlope underlined, no help can come from praying to ancestors because the ancestors are dead. It’s that simple. And when people think they are connecting to ancestors, they are in fact connecting to demonic and impersonating spirits. So this is not something in which anyone should be involved in any way, shape or form, and we need to say this very clearly to the country.

The other area of strong response and affirmation related to crime from our youth and against our youth. No country can have a prosperous future if it loses its young people to violence and immorality. So often these two ills go together, with young girls especially being major victims. So the need is great in our land to encourage all national youth ministries, and then the youth ministries in individual churches.

The big thing now, it seems to me, is to think and pray about where we go from here with this embryonic movement. May the Lord grant very clear and decisive guidance to Rachel Kalidass and other leaders as they think and pray into this challenge.