THE COVENANT OF ENERGY By Harold Mawela It was a Tuesday morning in July the first day of the month, if you can believe it and I found myself standing at the window of my study in Akasia, watching the Pretoria dawn bleed gold over the Magaliesberg. My phone buzzed with news alerts. Anti-immigrant protests were sweeping across Johannesburg, Hillbrow, Alexandra, Tembisa, Soweto. Thousands had marched, shops had closed, and fear had become the currency of the day. My neighbour, a Congolese shopkeeper, had not opened his spaza shop in three days. And somewhere in the middle of all that noise the economic reports screaming that unemployment had climbed to 32.7%, that 345,000 jobs had vanished like morning mist, that our nation was ranked among the lowest globally for mental well-being I felt it. That familiar tug. That weariness that does not announce itself with a trumpet but creeps in like a thief, stealing your strength one sleepless night at a time. I thought about the men I know. The o...
The Cascade of Clarity Scripture: “Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.” (Psalm 119:105) Let me take you to Akasia, Pretoria, where I sat in my study on the morning of June 30, 2026. Outside my window, the Jacarandas were in full bloom those purple canopies that have witnessed so much of this nation's history. But the air was thick with something else. Tension. Fear. The kind of heaviness that settles over a city when vigilante groups have issued ultimatums and thousands of law enforcement officers have been placed on maximum operational readiness. More than 25,000 foreign nationals had already been repatriated. Migrants were being hunted "like wild animals," as one Malawian told the press. Bafana Bafana had just crashed out of the World Cup. And Netflix's The Polygamist had the whole continent debating marriage and betrayal. Chaos. Confusion. A stagnant pond. I closed my eyes and whispered: “Holy Spirit, what is my next right step?” Confusion is a st...