A Witness For Ever

On 26th April, the polls opened for South Africa's first democratic election. While thousands of South Africans of every shade and creed queued patiently outside the polling stations, the rest of the world held its breath. Would the fragile peace prevail?

In A Witness For Ever, Michael Cassidy reveals for the first time what went on behind the scenes, away from the dramatic headlines. As South Africa inched its way towards the momentous election, a plane with a faulty dial, a prayer meeting with 30,000 people, a Kenyan diplomat, and Christian leaders working backstage all played a part in what newspapers worldwide hailed as a miracle.

Michael Cassidy describes the unbearable suspense as the situation teetered on the brink of disaster and the sheer joy when a solution was reached just six days before the elections. Whatever the future holds for South Africa, the extraordinary events leading up to April 1994 do indeed deserve to held up as a witness for ever to the power of God.

In a country which for many years was beset by anarchy in the African townships and uncontrolled violence, it was gratifying to note that the days leading towards its final liberation were characterised by the creation of ordered and stable conditions. The political leaders of South Africa had finally realised that there can be no true justice without order, that is genuine order, not the kind of repressive violence of so many years of apartheid rule. And it is therefore for these reasons and because of the extraordinary story it tells that I warmly commend A Witness For Ever to the reading public. —Professor Washington A. J. Okumu

Michael Cassidy is one of Africa’s foremost evangelists and prophets. His story deserves a wide readership and will make a deep impact. —Moss Ntlha, General Secretary, Evangelical Alliance of South Africa.

The book shows that redemption can be personal as well as social and that there can be godly resistance to evil which does not fall into the trap of emulating the ways of the oppressors. Michael has been able, in his own life, to overcome the divisions of race, denominations and theological emphasis with simplicity and integrity. I have learnt much from his example. I know that others will too. —Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali, director of the Oxford Centre for Training, Research, Advocacy and Dialogue