Is South Africa Free — or Still Healing?

27 August 2026 | Dizindaba Staff Reporter | Kuilsriver

A new book, We Need God: A Prophetic Call to South Africa, by author and business strategist Joseph S. Ruiters, challenges South Africans to look beyond the country’s political freedom and confront the deeper issues still affecting society.

Ruiters argues that while democracy and political liberation are important achievements, South Africa continues to face inequality, unemployment, corruption, weak institutions, fractured communities and declining public trust. He believes these challenges cannot be addressed through policies and systems alone, but also require integrity, accountability, reconciliation and moral renewal.

Using the biblical journey from Egypt through the wilderness to the Promised Land as a framework, the book asks whether South Africans have truly moved beyond the patterns that continue to hold communities back.

The book also challenges leaders, churches, businesses and ordinary citizens to take responsibility for rebuilding the country rather than simply blaming others.

For Ruiters, We Need God is not simply a religious message, but a call for South Africans to reflect on what must be confronted, repaired and rebuilt if freedom is to become a lived reality for all.

The question the book leaves with readers is simple but challenging: What kind of South Africa are we preparing to hand to the next generation?