Maxine Davids: From a Sunday School Invitation to a Call to Political Leadership

Maxine Davids is a 25-year-old 2025 activator from Saldanha Bay, Western Cape. Maxine is stepping into the political arena by contesting the upcoming local elections under the People’s Movement for Change (PMC) political party. Unlike many others, Maxine’s journey into leadership did not begin with politics; it started with an invitation to attend a Sunday school service. 

Maxine grew up in Saldanha Bay, Hopland, as the eldest daughter to her parents. She believes it is God who placed her on this earth with a greater purpose, which she used to doubt herself. 

When anxiety struck and she doubted her purpose on earth, she believes it was God who took her back to when she was 8 years old, as a little girl playing in the street, when one elderly woman who was passing by asked her whether she attended church and when she said no, the woman invited her to church. Maxine instantly agreed to attend the Sunday school service, unbeknownst to her that that yes was a yes to the best version of herself, her destiny and a yes to intercede for her bloodline and her community.

That one Sunday school service was where her life began. Through her obedience, both her parents also followed and today they are Apostles of their own congregation and she can only thank God for using her as a vessel to stand in the gap.

Maxine’s call to serve in politics started within her household, her opinion was always different, her perspective led to new information. However, this often cost her tears, heartbreak, conflict, trauma and a lot more, she believes these experiences helped shape her into the person she is today. 

Her journey into politics was nothing she had envisioned, instead, she believes it is very prophetic. She often told herself she wanted nothing to do with politics because the world is wicked and corrupted, demonic altars have become the new gods. And having voted only once in her life at the age of 18 years old, she deeply questioned her participation in the political system. 

Her view changed when she came across Pastor Kurt Van Heerden from Johannesburg, who had started a rehab centre and is also a member of PMC. His life journey spoke to Maxine, and she believes that was the Lord directing her towards that part as well. And that is also how she decided to be a member and contest under her political party, PMC.

One of the ideas that inform Maxine’s political outlook is what she describes as the transition from the “Moses generation” to the “Joshua generation”. 

She believes that the “Moses generation” fought the fight for us, but they are now tired, old, overworked, overstimulated and at some point, failed us. These failures have contributed to the challenges that the Joshua generation now faces, but she does not judge them because they did what they knew best. 

What we now see is the “Joshua generation (youth)” taking leadership, bringing in new and fresh ideas to restore the past and its traumas. This is a generation that wants to be healed, healthy, and restored to showcase their inner strength. 

Having women in positions of leadership is another important part of Maxine’s vision. She believes women are very much needed because they are strong, bold and can multitask. The challenges she has faced until now is the fact that men do not want to submit to women and that is a problem. Her questions are: Who runs the house? Who makes the food? Who cleans? Who are the primary caretakers of children? Who makes sure the world does not collapse? And her answer is women. 

Maxine does not see the reason why women can not ensure that the country is in a good state. Children would be safe and the bad guys would be in jail. She prays daily that the world would give women a chance. 

The biggest challenges facing the community of Saldanha Bay is not just unemployment, but the lack of knowledge of who we truly are: 

• Lack of identity
• Lack of understanding where we come from
• Lack of understanding of our bloodline history
• Lack of understanding the purpose of our calling
• Lack of discipline
• Lack of self-control

Should she be elected to serve, her main focus would be for people to become the fullness of who they were created to be. She is currently writing her first unit standard from scratch called “The Fullness of You”, with the first module being Understanding the Kingdom of God. This is because when one understands the kingdom of God, it will lead them back to who they were created to be. 

It will make you find your identity; make you understand who you are and what your purpose is and if you know what your purpose is, it will keep you grounded and focused on what you should do on this earth. 

A question that the Holy Spirit asked her was, “If today were her last day on earth, what would she have done to bring heaven to earth?” She asks, “Would you die of the pain and suffering and wickedness or would you die with your full armour on, proudly having fought for what would bring peace and joy back in our communities?”

All Maxine wants to see is people in her community being happy and financially free. Freedom in households, and present fathers, because absent fathers are the gap the enemy uses to destroy our future generation. Single mothers are suffering cause of past trauma and then the cycle of past trauma continues in different forms such as drug abuse, sexual addiction, alcohol abuse, etc…

Maxine’s message to anyone who is not interested in participating in the elections on the 4th of November is that it is important to know your power, through that, you will want to take back authority and be unstoppable. She laughs at this because that was once her, but she now recognises the potential for “better” that is held by the ballot paper. Our role as the youth is to know our power, take back authority and correct what was wrong.

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About the Author: 

Londiwe Mnguni is an activated young person passionate about community development and social change, with a deep commitment to contributing meaningfully to initiatives that empower and uplift communities.