Institutions of power in ancient Israel were the temple and the courts. Could it be that the prophets at the centre functioned in these two centres of power? It would then mean that some prophets functioned in both the cultic and/or religious centre, as well as the political centre and/or the centre of the kings. When deemed a prophet, Samuel, who was dedicated to God as a baby, received his call and began his work as a prophet from the temple at Shiloh (1 Sm 1:24–28). Ahijah as ‘the prophet of Shiloh’ presupposes an idea of prophets functioning at the cultic sites, that is, Shiloh in this case (1 Ki 11:29–39). In addition, Ezra 5:12; 6:14 suggests that the prophets such as Zechariah and Haggai (and other prophets) were associated with the temple because of their involvement in the rebuilding of the second temple. Haggai could be included in the association with the temple because of the book’s focus on the rebuilding of the temple. What about Jeremiah? His ministry centred at the temple, and he seems to have had some confrontation with the temple overseer, Passhur and also with the prophet Hananiah. Some prophets were associated with royalty and exercised some functions in royal families. Not only is Samuel associated with prophecy and deemed a prophet, but he also performed prophetic work. In the installation of the kings Saul (1 Sm 9–10) and David (1 Sm 16:1–3), it seems that he acted as a prophet. In addition, in the case of Nathan and Solomon (1 Ki 1:32–40), the involvement of a prophet in matters of royalty points to the involvement of prophets in political matters. Furthermore, what of Ahijah and Jeroboam (1 Ki 11:29–39)? A prophet appears to have been involved in political matters. It is also difficult to dispute the depiction of Elisha in the still-debated matter of Jehu (1 Ki 19:15–16; 2 Ki 9:1–13). However, for the present debate, a so-called prophet was involved in the enactment of Jehu. The case of Elisha with Hazael from Aram in 2 Kings 8:7–15 may also be included as a point of reference where one notices the involvement in political matters. Texts from the Deuteronomistic history allude to prophets who were involved in issues of governance. Nathan and Gad were closely associated with David. Not only in 2 Samuel 24:11 was Gad identified as ‘David’s seer’ and ‘the king’s seer’ in 2 Chronicles 29:25, but these identifications also appear in 1 Chronicles 25:5. In the present work, we do not intend to present an inner-biblical exegesis, but to show instances where deductions could be made about the association and involvement of some prophets (even debatable prophets) in the royal circles. Although one may at first glance think of Gad as being a peripheral prophet, it is difficult not to associate him with the space of power, especially when David assumed kingship. 1 Samuel 22:1–5 reads:

The latter shows the function of a prophet to a king. So it was with various prophets in the centre.

Since it seems that it was difficult for the differing and differentiated prophets to be associated with both the temple and the royal courts, it is necessary to give some attention to them.

Apartheid South Africa represented one of the most dehumanising periods in modern African history, where structural and systematic violence was enforced through both state law and theological justification. In response, a prophetic ecclesial movement emerged, anchored in biblical imperatives of justice, liberation and solidarity with the oppressed. Figures like Beyers Naudé and Archbishop Desmond Tutu became global icons of this movement, offering theological critique and political advocacy that refused to separate faith from justice (Klassen & Solomons 2020:3; Thinane 2019:56). However, within this broader landscape, Rev. Andile Madodomzi Mbete’s ministry represented a more grounded and contextually embedded prophetic witness. Deeply shaped by a praxis-oriented theology, Mbete’s ministry responded to the immediate pain of communities, negotiating peace during hostel violence and ministering in spaces where institutional church structures had grown silent. Prophetic agency during apartheid was not merely a matter of public declarations but a lived theology that required physical presence among the marginalised, often outside official ecclesial endorsement. His work draws on the reflections of Mosala (1989), who describes prophetic praxis in South Africa as ‘a theology from below’ – a radical embodiment of the gospel in situations of exploitation and death. This understanding finds strong resonance with Rev. Mbete’s approach to ministry: he stood in the gap when political and ecclesiastical leadership faltered. The contributions of Maluleke (1997) may be invoked and he reminds us that the prophetic in African contexts is relational and community-rooted, not institutionally sanctioned. Mbete’s work thus echoes these scholars by refusing to spiritualise injustice or outsource the Church’s responsibility to state structures. This position resonates with Foster and Bentley (2008:5), who emphasise that prophetic witness in the Methodist Church must emerge from the grassroots, engaging the political without becoming politicised and ensuring that the Church remains both spiritually vibrant and socially relevant. Theologically, prophetic agency is rooted in the biblical tradition of prophets like Hosea, Amos, Jeremiah and Micah, who were often isolated figures calling nations back to covenantal justice. Oduyoye (2004:72) describes prophets as those who are ‘dislocated in location but rooted in vocation’, a phrase that captures Mbete’s method of ministering in spaces of social upheaval while refusing institutional compromise. Presiding Bishop Rev. Pumla Nzimande (2023:5, 2024:3) furthers this interpretation, urging the Church to rediscover its vocation as ‘an alternative community’; not domesticated by power but radically shaped by its call to prophetic witness. In Mbete’s life, this call was expressed not in grand gestures or televised crusades but in the quiet faithfulness of local intervention, presence and word – a reminder that prophetic ministry is not always loud, but it is always costly.

Mbete’s prophetic style emphasised direct engagement with social issues, articulating biblical messages relevant to African realities. His ministry notably lacked partisan political affiliation, maintaining an ethical clarity essential for prophetic witness (Manona 2017). He embodied the biblical tradition of prophets like Amos and Jeremiah, who boldly confronted injustices without aligning with political structures (Mosala 1989:57). Like the prophet in Isaiah 58:1, Mbete refused to keep silent. From the reflections in both the 2023 and 2024 addresses by Presiding Bishop Rev. Pumla Nzimande, prophetic urgency and agency require ‘an awakening’ of the Church to its calling. In 2023, Nzimande stated that the Church must rediscover its vocation as ‘the voice crying in the wilderness’, demanding justice on behalf of the dispossessed (Nzimande 2023:4). In 2024, she urged that ‘we must not merely serve as chaplains to the state but stand apart in fearless solidarity with the poor and betrayed’ (Nzimande 2024:6). Mbete’s life is a concrete expression of this ecclesial vocation – refusing comfort, refusing co-option and speaking truth to power.

In the years 1981–1982, Mbete served as a probationer minister in Parys (see MCSA 1981:420, 1982:516). Not only did the prophetic ministry and zeal within the broader Vaal Triangle region draw him to alternative ministry, but the prophetic calling also lend him to the political sphere as a prophetic political activist. The Vaal Triangle, made up of Vereeniging, Sebokeng, Sharpeville, Boipatong and Evaton, was the cradle of sustained political resistance in the early 80s towards the mid-80s (Rueedi 2015:399). The latter geographical location, under the Vereeniging leadership, became a crucible of political unrest, particularly around the infamous ‘Vaal–10’ arrests. During this time, Andile Mbete ministered as an unofficial chaplain to young political detainees, including political persons, among others, namely Ace Magashule and Mosiuoa ‘Terror’ Lekota who advocated for their release and thus provided spiritual counsel. Mbete’s pastoral involvement lends itself to the hostel violence in Sebokeng, eventually necessitated and overlapping ministry and prophetic role into peace mediation efforts around Soweto.

In Ibuyambo, Rev. Mbete offers a theological reflection sparked by witnessing an ancestral ceremony at the Mbashe River in 2002–2003. This work serves not only as a theological treatise, but also as a deeply personal journal, chronicling his own spiritual journey and encounters as they intertwine with the broader tapestry of African Christian experience. Disturbed and intrigued by the rich cultural symbolism, including the act of a traditional beer jug floating on water and the utterance of ‘Camagu’, Mbete began to question the theological distance many pastors keep from the cultural lives of the people they serve. This book prophetically challenges the Church’s alienation from African traditions and invites a re-engagement with ancestral memory through a critical yet respectful theological lens (Mbete 2022).

Released in 2022, Umkhwahlazo acts as a sequel to Ibuyambo, confronting the MCSA with piercing questions about identity, representation and cultural authenticity. Despite the numerical dominance of African leadership in structures like the Connexional Executive, Mbete raises the unsettling question: why does the Church still function in a predominantly European ecclesial mode? The prophetic critique here is not merely institutional – it is theological and cultural. He argues that black leadership without African rootedness reproduces colonial ecclesiologies that continue to alienate the African soul (Mbete 2022). De Gruchy (2006:102) supports such a critique, arguing that an ecclesiology that fails to embrace human dignity and local culture risks becoming an oppressive rather than liberative force. Mbete’s confrontation with Eurocentric ecclesial norms is thus a recovery of what De Gruchy calls ‘Christian humanism’ – a Church shaped by compassion, community and cultural integrity.

Driven by a spirit of inclusion and empowerment, Umkhosi WeMithika is a practical manual aimed at training local preachers, especially those with limited formal education. In this work, Mbete (2006c) embodies the prophetic educator who equips the voiceless to proclaim God’s Word with confidence and contextual integrity. The book is both pedagogical and revolutionary, democratising the pulpit in true Wesleyan spirit.

This work serves as a theological anchor in times of ecclesial change. By calling Methodists to remain grounded in Wesleyan values, Rev. Mbete speaks prophetically to a Church at risk of losing its doctrinal and missional identity. He reminds readers that prophetic renewal must never sever itself from theological rootedness.

In his book Imfihlakalo ezingcwele, Rev. Andile Mbete undertakes a reflective and theologically grounded exploration of what he terms ‘holy mysteries’. Through this work, he seeks to unpack the depth and significance of foundational elements of the Christian faith, including the nature of the Church, its sacraments and ordinances, key doctrinal positions, human sexuality and the broader landscape of Christian belief. Mbete approaches these themes not only as sacred traditions to be preserved, but as dynamic mysteries to be engaged with a Christocentric worldview, within the evolving context of faith and society.

A thoughtfully curated book containing a selection of Rev. Andile Mbete’s (2018) sermons, public speeches and public lecture notes. Mbete positions this work as a practical guide and theological tool for young ministers, local preachers and lay leaders across denominational lines. He defends its usefulness by emphasising its accessible theological insights, rooted in real pastoral experience and shaped by the struggles and aspirations of Southern African communities of faith. For Mbete, Ichweba is where reflection and proclamation meet; a symbolic confluence of wisdom, faith and vocation.

This autobiographical work offers a rare window into the joys and burdens of (active) ministry as a presbyter. Life in a Glass House discloses the cost of discipleship and leadership in a public vocation. In this book, Mbete’s reflections are honest, unguarded and prophetic in tone; reminding the reader that true spiritual leadership is lived under the gaze of both God and the people.

Rev. Mbete’s latest book, Methodism born in song, is a theological and spiritual reflection on the role of hymnody in shaping Methodist identity and spirituality. In particular, it urges Methodist choirs to understand and embrace their role as co-leaders in worship alongside preachers; a recurring theme carried over from his earlier work, Intsika zobuWisile (Mbete 2010:36). Drawing from the legacy of Charles Wesley and African oral traditions, Mbete reclaims congregational singing as a prophetic tool for theological formation and liberation.

In this book, Mbete argues that music in the Church is not merely emotive decorative, but it is doctrinal, communal and political (Mbete 2022:8). This book reflects his deep conviction that a singing catholic (universal) church is a witnessing church and that Methodist theology must be lived, sung and embodied in context. In doing so, he continues his prophetic vocation by reminding the MCSA as a church in the Southern African context that its true calling lies in harmonising faith and justice through every form of expression.

In his contribution to Rediscovering Wesley for Africa, Mbete (2006b) explores how Charles Wesley’s hymns can be reinterpreted in African contexts. This chapter advances his broader prophetic theology: that worship must speak the language of the people and echo their lived experiences (eds. Malinga & Richardson 2006:115–120). Worship, in Mbete’s hands, becomes a site of liberation, cultural reclamation and theological re-imagination. This resonates with arguments in Charles Wesley: Life, Literature and Legacy, where scholars like John Tyson and S. T. Kimbrough Jr. observe that Charles Wesley’s hymns were themselves contextually dynamic; crafted to communicate Methodist theology in accessible, affective and locally resonant ways (eds. Newport & Campbell 2007:148–152). Tyson notes that Wesley’s hymns ‘translated theological concepts into the idioms of the people’, a methodology that Mbete extends into the African context by asserting the power of song as both theological and cultural resource. Hence, Charles Wesley’s hymnic legacy becomes a foundation not only for doctrinal instruction, but also for contextual theological innovation even in postcolonial worship spaces.

Mbete viewed liberation as holistic transformation, a conviction reflected in his ongoing prophetic activism, writing and public theology. A defining feature of his work is his unapologetic use of African languages – especially isiXhosa – to challenge and subvert the dominance of Eurocentric theological discourse. By titling his books and sermons in rich isiXhosa idiom, Mbete reclaimed the cultural and spiritual authority that oppressive regimes had historically denied to indigenous languages. This reclamation aligns with Flores and Rosa’s (2023:4) critique of ‘raciolinguistics ideologies’, which frame African languages as inherently deficient or inappropriate within formal theological and intellectual domains. Diko (2025:3) reinforces this critique by arguing that South Africa’s colonial and apartheid legacies systematically marginalised indigenous languages, stripping them of cultural legitimacy and restricting their functionality in public and religious life. This marginalisation, Diko notes, was not merely linguistic but epistemic – severing language from identity and thought. Mbete’s ministry directly confronted this rupture, offering a theological witness that not only dignified African languages but restored them as vessels of spiritual and intellectual authority. By writing and preaching in isiXhosa, while also demonstrating fluency in English, Greek, and Hebrew, Mbete seamlessly bridged cultural and scholarly domains in pursuit of a robust, accessible theology. He further employed meaningful African historical identifiers such as ‘Azania’ and ‘Ethiopia’ [black Afrika], underscoring his commitment to African consciousness and identity. This intentional use of language is not merely stylistic but a reclaiming of African knowledge systems, which, as Dweba and Rashe (2021:6) affirm, form the foundation of local wisdom that guides African societies. His characteristic opening statement in some of his sermons: ‘I want to state my case, I want to prove my case and I want to close my case’, echoed his youthful aspiration of becoming igqwetha [a lawyer], reflecting a methodical and persuasive preaching style grounded in rigorous argumentation (Mabuza 2024). Complementing this, Mbete has this frequent art of drawing from Methodist hymnody; not merely for emotional resonance but deliberate rhetorical and theological strategy (Mbete 2022:8). It is of course his personal conviction that Methodist hymns encapsulate doctrinal truth in totality; a powerful tool for teaching, affirmation and proclamation. In all of this, Rev. Mbete embodied a prophetic authorship and public theology that intertwined linguistic reclamation, contextual relevance, musical theology and doctrinal depth. Since 2022 to date, Rev. Mbete has extended his prophetic and pastoral ministry into the realm of higher education by serving as Chaplain and Spiritual Adviser at Walter Sisulu University (WSU). In this role, he provides spiritual and pastoral support to both staff and students, facilitates interfaith dialogue and leads campus worship engagements that promote a theology of justice, healing and African dignity. His work at WSU reflects a deep commitment to the spiritual formation of young leaders in post-apartheid South Africa. Recordings of his university ceremony teachings and theological reflection on the WSU’s YouTube platform further attest to his evolving influence as a theological educator and public intellectual within the Eastern Cape’s academic landscape (WSU 2025).

In the landscape of South African civic and ecclesial leadership, Rev. Andile Madodomzi Mbete occupies a distinct prophetic space – one that simultaneously mirrors and departs from the paths taken by other faith-driven public leaders such as Rev. Makhenkesi Stofile, Dr. Zola Skweyiya and Minister Noxolo Kiviet. While these figures translated their theological or moral convictions into formal political action, Mbete’s vocation remained resolutely grounded in the pulpit, township streets and sacred community spaces. In his book, Ibuyambo, Mbete singles out Stofile as his brother who has influenced his writings (Mbete 2006a:5). His prophetic ministry was thus not exercised in the halls of parliament, but rather in the valleys of people’s suffering and hope. Beyers Naudé and Desmond Tutu significantly shaped both national and international discourses through prophetic public theology and political advocacy. In contrast, Mbete’s witness remained deeply embedded in local contexts and ecumenical relations. His incarceration during the 1980s alongside figures like Rev. Mvume Dandala highlights his willingness to bear the cost of justice, demonstrating praxis that echoes biblical prophetic suffering (Kumalo 2018:4). While Naudé and Tutu often engaged the media and occupied international platforms, Mbete ministered largely off-camera, in community meeting halls, grief-stricken households and volatile streets where lives hung in the balance. Unlike many public figures, Mbete served communities from within, often without mass media coverage or institutional backup. He modelled precisely what Presiding Bishop Rev. Pumla Nzimande (2024:5) envisions in her appeal for prophetic agency within the MCSA – a minister who labours among the people, reviving the church of Christ not through spectacle or strategic messaging, but through presence, word and deed. ‘Prophets don’t wait for safe platforms – they enter the pain of the people with holy indignation and healing hope’, she states, a sentiment deeply embodied in Mbete’s decades-long ministry. This vision resonates with what Mabuza (2024) defines as prophetic theology, a theology that:

Together, Nzimande’s vision and Mabuza’s theological framing capture the essence of Mbete’s ministry: a prophetic witness rooted in praxis, discernment and faithful engagement with the struggles of the people. Figures like Stofile and Skweyiya, both stalwarts of South Africa’s post-apartheid reconstruction, exemplified faithful Christian engagement in politics. Rev. Stofile, a Presbyterian minister, merged his ecclesial identity with his tenure as Minister of Sport and Premier of the Eastern Cape, often invoking theological imagery in public service (South African History Online 2011). Dr. Zola Skweyiya’s legal and policy legacy, especially in crafting South Africa’s social security systems, reflected a justice-oriented ethos rooted in his early Christian ethical education (The Presidency 2018). Minister Noxolo Kiviet, an advocate for women and education, also shares in this tradition of moral service, rooted in Eastern Cape activism and Methodism (News24 2023). Yet, Mbete’s model of prophetic leadership is remembered as fiercely independent of party allegiance; he is not a party cardholder. As he once remarked, ‘I am a minister of the Methodist first, but I am a priest of the community’ (Manona 2017). This community-rootedness found further grounds in his theological exposure to Minjung theology during his studies in Singapore, which emphasised the lived experiences of the marginalised as primary sites of God’s revelation. In this way, Mbete’s ecclesial witness operated as a moral and spiritual barometer within a society teetering between post-liberation hope and neoliberal betrayal. Presiding Bishop Rev. Pumla Nzimande’s 2023 and 2024 MCSA conference addresses speak directly to this kind of witness. In 2023, Nzimande lamented the domestication of the church, warning that its prophetic vocation risks being diluted in political convenience and theological timidity (Nzimande 2023:7). By 2024, she had sharpened that warning into a call for embodied prophecy – pastors and leaders who do not merely preach against injustice but live among the broken, risking their reputations, comfort and lives (Nzimande 2024:5). Mbete’s life is a response to that call before it was articulated. Indeed, in the company of figures like Stofile, Skweyiya, Kiviet, Tutu and Naudé, Rev. Mbete’s voice stands not in opposition but in complement. His life has testified to a form of public theology that does not demand the limelight, yet offers light. His ministry critiques not only government corruption but ecclesial complicity. Foster and Bentley (2008) similarly argue that the post-apartheid church faces the danger of moral complacency, where prophetic energy has been replaced by institutional comfort. In this regard, Mbete’s life challenges the church to recover its prophetic edge by rooting itself in community suffering and gospel truth. It therefore calls the church to rise – not to dominate, but to accompany, to heal and to bear witness. It is a ministry that has, in Presiding Bishop Nzimande’s terms, dared to revive the church of Christ by returning it to its people, to its pain and to its prophetic promise.

Rev. Andile Mbete’s prophetic critique of post-apartheid South Africa is deeply rooted in both lived experience and theological reflection. His engagement with the new democratic dispensation was never celebratory without question. Instead, Mbete continues to maintain a sober realism, condemning the corruption, systemic inequality and moral degradation that threatens to taint the promises of liberation. His prophetic voice demanded that both the Church and the state pursue a more ethical and spiritually grounded path forward (Manona 2017). Mbete’s time in Singapore (1985–1988), where he studied theology at Trinity Theological College, significantly shaped his global vision and sharpened his prophetic consciousness. In Singapore, he encountered Minjung theology, which emphasises the agency of oppressed peoples in resisting systemic injustice. This experience expanded his theological imagination and offered a global lens through which to critique South Africa’s own struggles. He witnessed the role of the Church in political renewal – particularly in how nuns led grassroots revolutions against dictatorship without violence. It was in Singapore that he came to believe deeply in the Church’s ability to shape public consciousness and social transformation without aligning itself to partisan interests. Upon his return, he emphasised this model within the MCSA, advocating for the Church to become a moral compass in a society adrift in consumerism, factionalism and violence. Hence his prophetic critique extended beyond the ANC to a general collapse of spiritual and ethical leadership across all spheres of public life. Storey (2018) supports this critique, lamenting how both Church and society have struggled to cultivate a moral imagination capable of withstanding the seduction of neoliberalism. Mbete’s call for ethical leadership thus echoes a broader theological concern for reclaiming moral clarity in public life. In this regard, he shared the theological anxieties of Presiding Bishop Rev. Pumla Nzimande. In her 2024 address to Conference, Nzimande (2024:7) lamented the Church’s risk of being domesticated – co-opted by the systems it is meant to critique. Mbete’s ministry reflects the very resistance to such co-optation, continuously reminding the Church that it must rediscover its identity as an alternative community rooted in justice, holiness and public accountability. His advisory role to the Eastern Cape government further demonstrates his commitment to public ethics. He remained politically engaged without being politically captured, offering spiritual wisdom to civil authorities while keeping the Church prophetically independent. Mbete’s ministry, while rooted in deep theological conviction, also embodied Ubuntu ethics, ‘I am because we are’, which bares relationality, dignity and communal responsibility. As Dweba and Rashe (2021:6–7) argue, effective church leadership in Africa must reclaim indigenous frameworks of wisdom and relational care to counter Westernised Ecclesiologies and individualism. In this, his life is a living echo of Nzimande’s challenge for clergy to exercise prophetic boldness, speaking truth to power in love and conviction. He too asserts in his writing that ‘Christians are faced with the problem of reconciling God’s omnipotence with the world’s evil’, a theological tension that undergirds his commitment to justice (Mbete 2022:24). In word and witness, Mbete insists that Christian agents must confront systemic injustice not as passive observers, but as active agents of God’s transforming presence in the world. In all his work, Rev. Mbete called for a new moral imagination – one that rises from the ashes of betrayal and broken promises to proclaim that another South Africa is still possible. He believed that the Church, when rooted in African identity, communal solidarity and theological integrity, could lead the nation towards that vision. His voice joins a chorus of African prophetic leaders who refused to be silenced by political expediency, reminding South Africa that justice, compassion and holiness remain non-negotiable marks of true liberation.

Rev. Mbete’s prophetic critique extended to abuses within charismatic churches, particularly economic exploitation and moral scandals. This aligns with broader ecclesiastical self-examinations led by the South African Council of Churches (SACC) post-1994 (Manona 2017; Thinane 2019:68). His critique echoes biblical prophets’ denouncement of false prophets and unethical religious practices (Jr 23; Ez 34). As De Gruchy (2006:88) observes, religion untethered from ethical responsibility becomes complicit in dehumanisation. Mbete’s critique aligns with a Christian humanism that insists on integrity, transparency and justice as essential marks of authentic ministry. Crucially, Mbete’s critique did not stem from mere ideological opposition, but from an informed theological formation, well rooted in ecumenical praxis and deep interdenominational engagement. His grounding in the ecumenical ethos of the FEDSEM of Southern Africa in Pietermaritzburg nurtured in him what he described as ‘a forged unity’, enabling him (and others) to traverse denominational boundaries with liturgical familiarity and fluency. As a result, he could lead worship with ease and depth in Anglican, Presbyterian and other ecumenical settings, not as an outsider, but as one shaped by a formative vision of church unity forged in struggle and hope (Mbete 2016:56). In line with Nzimande’s 2023 inaugural address, which emphasises the need for a church that is an ‘organism’ rather than a rigid institution (Nzimande 2023:3), Mbete embodied the kind of spiritual vitality and responsiveness that revitalises the Church of Christ. In 2024, she further insisted, ‘Our vocation is not to secure favour but to disturb the status quo with Gospel truth’ (Nzimande 2024:6). Thus, the nuances of an alternative communitive and most importantly the prophetic work is cardinal.

Andile Mbete has made significant contributions to the development of democratic South Africa. From 2019, he was appointed as an adviser to the government of the Eastern Cape province in the Premier’s office. For Mabuyane, the Premier, the decision to include Mbete was based on the observation that he is a man of religious faith with integrity. As recorded by Capa (2019:1), Mabuyane said: ‘Mbete’s role would involve managing issues of social cohesion and he would bring a sense of conscience in municipalities’. In response to the appointment, Mbete said: ‘From time to time we will meet the premier when he seeks advice on serious issues, or we will take the initiative and invite him on serious matters he may not be aware of’. Additionally, Mbete (Capa 2019:1) stated that, ‘I have done it in the church and with kings and chiefs, but I have never advised a political figure … [and it] will fall upon me to ensure the spirits and morality of the premier and his colleagues are well taken care of’. Both Mabuyane’s and Mbete’s sentiments express the idea of a prophet fostering social cohesion and advancing the well-being of the communities. In this instance, the focus of the prophet is clearly on the community and its welfare. Mbete’s theological writings, notably ‘Ibuyambo’ and ‘Umkhwahlazo’ remain influential, integrating African cultural insights with Wesleyan spirituality. These works enrich contemporary Methodist theological education and pastoral practice, promoting a contextual prophetic witness (eds. Malinga & Richardson 2006:115–120). This mirrors the concerns of De Gruchy (2006:115), who critiques the institutional church for often failing to embody the very humanity it preaches. He calls for a Christian humanism that affirms human dignity, cultural identity and moral courage – all of which are central to Mbete’s critique offered in Umkhwahlazo. His legacy inspires a new generation of prophetic leaders committed to social justice, moral integrity and community transformation; precisely the kind of leadership Presiding Bishop Nzimande envisions: spiritually grounded, socially engaged and institutionally courageous. Mbete believes that the passing of the baton of faith from generation to generation is a biblical charge. He often illustrates this beautifully through the relationship between Paul and Timothy and through the maternal lineage of faith, drawing on the biblical image of Timothy’s grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice, from whom he ‘sucked godliness and faith from her breasts’, as echoed in the words of John Calvin King (Mbete 2019). Rev. Mbete’s current prophetic visibility and influence in the Eastern Cape remains unparalleled. Prior to the MCSA resolution to formally withdraw chaplaincy services to political bodies, Mbete served as Chaplain to the ANC in the Eastern Cape province. Currently, he serves as an adviser to the office of the Premier of Eastern Cape and remains a revered adviser among provincial leaders, traditional authorities and the business sector. He notably officiated the installation of the late King Zwelonke Sigcawu on 15 May 2015 at eNqadu Great Place in Willowvale, Eastern Cape – an act symbolic of his proximity to traditional authority and civic responsibility. His inclusion among advisers to the Eastern Cape Premier further demonstrates how his prophetic witness continues to shape governance, spiritual ethics and communal renewal across societal boundaries. Even denominations like the Bantu Church of Christ, known for guarding their pulpits, recognise and welcome his voice – an indicator of his rare cross-denominational authority and respect.

Rev. Andile Madodomzi Mbete embodies prophetic agency within the South African ecclesial context, characterised by non-partisan activism, profound community engagement and theological depth. His ministry is not merely a historical reference but a present-day template for awakening prophetic urgency and agency; calling the Church in Southern Africa to be the alternative community Christ intended.

As we celebrate his legacy, it is fitting to sing the Methodist Xhosa hymnal 345 (MCSA 1926) (see Box 1).