There is anger, grief and heartbreak across South Africa right now but alongside all of it are people choosing kindness and action. This week, we’re looking for the helpers.
South Africa (19 September 2026) – I’ve been thinking about the helpers a lot this week. The people who show up, step forward, give what they can, speak when something needs to be said and do good things because it is who we are. And after the week South Africa has had, I think they’re exactly where this Saturday Wrap Up needs to start.
I’m back in South Africa and back behind the microphone and in front of the cameras, sharing good news again. And I know what you might be thinking… “Brenty, how the hell can you report on good news when our country is facing this horrific tragedy?”
Because we need it now, more than ever. Good news doesn’t stop when we are facing bad news and good people don’t stop either. Over the last week, the women who tragically lost their lives have dominated our headlines and conversations. And they absolutely should. We need to be talking about the horrific levels of violence in South Africa. We need to be angry, and we need to demand answers, accountability, justice and meaningful action.
But two things can be true at the same time. We can be furious about lives being lost AND grateful for the people standing up, speaking out, marching, donating, helping and refusing to look away. We can demand more from our government AND recognise the extraordinary things ordinary South Africans are doing for each other every single day. We can be devastated by what is happening AND still have hope for what comes next.
And the helpers have been everywhere this week. Men have stood up for women, South Africans have marched and protested, running clubs have used their voices and platforms to honour Tsontso and the other victims, and social media has been filled with people refusing to look away. Bonnie Suckling even created a crowdfund for Tsontso’s daughter, and people around the world have rallied around her, raising more than R200,000 in just four days.
Does any of this make what happened better or make the bad things disappear? No, not in the slightest but apathy certainly won’t make things better either.
South Africa has never been short of people who care, so we keep talking, demanding better, saying their names, helping where we can and making space for the good too. We have to find the good, and we have to be the good.
In times of tragedy, always look for the helpers. And if you can’t find one… become one. That’s what South Africa needs right now. The opposite of the bad. The helpers, healers and heroes.
Your Weekly Dose of Good Things
We publish around 110 stories every week, which is a lot of good news to get through. Every Friday, we choose 15 stories for the newsletter. Think of it as a sneak peek into the week at Good Things Guy, and this Saturday Wrap Up is basically a sneak peek into the sneak peek.
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Herman High Learners Help Turn Hermanus Pink for Pauline!
Classroom Flip: SOS Africa Students Take the Lead as Teachers for a DaySo, after a week when we needed the helpers more than ever, here are a few stories that reminded us they are everywhere.
A Lost Pair of Sunglasses and a Really Good Human
Nicola Pearce thought she had lost a beloved pair of sunglasses somewhere between a work meeting at Cape Town International Airport and boarding her flight to Johannesburg. They weren’t just any sunglasses either… Nicola had wanted them for a long time, saved up for them and travelled everywhere with them for the past five years, so by the time she landed in Joburg, she had pretty much accepted that they were gone.
There was one last place to try, though. Nicola called the Soaring Hawk Spur where she had met her colleagues before the flight. That’s when she discovered that Vusi, the waitress who had served them, had found the sunglasses and kept them safe, hoping their owner would come looking for them.
It might not be the biggest story. And it might not make the front-page news but it’s an important story… the helpers are everywhere! You can read it here.
Dr Dolly Just Got Her PhD… at 82!
If you have ever wondered whether you have left something too late, we’d like to introduce you to Dr Dolly Nontuthuzelo Nyasulu, who has just earned a Doctor of Philosophy in Public Health from the University of KwaZulu-Natal at 82.
Her research explored family-centred postnatal care in rural KwaZulu-Natal and how families can become more involved in supporting mothers and newborn babies alongside healthcare professionals. It is the latest achievement in a career dedicated to maternal, newborn and women’s health, and as Dr Nyasulu puts it, “This study feels like a full-circle moment for me”.
Getting there was anything but easy. During her studies, Dr Nyasulu lost her daughter, two brothers and her husband, while also navigating her own health and technological challenges, but with support from her family and supervisors, she reached the finish line.
“I feel incredibly good and very excited”, she said. “I still can’t believe that I have made it to the finish line. It has been such a long journey, with many challenges along the way”.
“I’m Struggling With Two!”
Then there is Phineas Makhwiting, a 58-year-old ceramic artist and lecturer at Tshwane University of Technology who has left his students asking one particularly brilliant question… “How is a person with only one arm able to do this and I’m struggling with two?”
Phineas lost his left arm after a childhood soccer injury led to serious complications but went on to earn a B Tech degree in Fine Arts and build an impressive career as a ceramic artist. Today, he teaches senior students the craft he has spent decades mastering, sharing everything he has learned behind the pottery wheel.
Third-year Fine Arts student Reabetswe Malete remembers watching him work during a ceramics project and being completely blown away.
“At first, I thought, ‘Who is this guy?’ Later, when we started working on a ceramics project, I thought to myself, ‘How is a person with only one arm able to do this and I’m struggling with two?'”
SPAR Hero of the Week: Barbara, Leader of the Pack
Eighteen years is a long time to dedicate yourself to anything, but for Barbara Patrick, those years have been spent protecting animals, supporting people and helping lead the Kloof and Highway SPCA.
Barbara is the organisation’s manager and, over nearly two decades, has helped rescue, protect, treat and rehome countless animals while guiding staff, volunteers, adopters and supporters through everything that comes with running an SPCA. Her colleagues have a very appropriate name for her… the “Leader of the Pack”.
Whether there is a crisis requiring immediate action, a difficult decision to make or a team member who needs support, Barbara is there, leading from the front and making sure both the animals and humans around her have someone in their corner. This week, Barbara Patrick is our SPAR Hero of the Week, and we think 18 years of happy tails deserves a very big round of ap-paws.
The Bicycle That Brought Two Friends Together
Our Kids’ Storybook feature this week might technically have been written for younger readers but grown-ups could learn quite a lot from Vaughn too. Vaughn and his mom regularly stopped at the same petrol station while travelling with their bicycles, and over time he became friends with Tony, a petrol attendant who always made time to listen to the youngster’s stories.
One day, Tony mentioned that he would love a bicycle of his own. Vaughn had been saving every spare coin he could find for a future family holiday, but after thinking about Tony, he made a decision and told his mom, “I think I’d rather use my savings to buy Tony a bicycle”.
And that is exactly what he did. Vaughn emptied his piggy bank, counted every coin and, together with his mom, bought Tony the bicycle he had been dreaming about. When they arrived at the petrol station and surprised him with it, Tony could barely find the words.
DC Finally Finally Has a Safe Place
And finally, our OnePlan Pawsitive Story this week belongs to an old girl named DC, a pony now in her late 20s whose future became increasingly uncertain after she was bought at auction by someone hoping she could be used for breeding. When it became clear that her age made that impossible, things took a dark turn, but before the worst could happen, DC escaped. The Highveld Horse Care Unit found her lying exhausted against a wall beside a busy road, old, tired and hungry, and stepped in to secure her safety.
DC is now safe, and the organisation is using her story to ask an important question about what happens to horses and ponies after they have spent their lives working, carrying children, teaching riders or serving their humans. If an animal has given people its best years, surely it deserves dignity in its final ones.
Their message says everything… “DC mattered then. She matters now. And she is safe”.
The helpers are everywhere… in our restaurants and universities, our SPCA branches and petrol stations, our animal welfare organisations and neighbourhoods. They are marching in our streets, raising money for strangers, speaking up when something is wrong and showing up when somebody needs them.
And every single one of us gets to decide whether we will be one too.
In times of tragedy, always look for the helpers. And if you can’t find one… become one. That’s what South Africa needs right now. The opposite of the bad. The helpers, healers and heroes.
by 
