This week brought mountain rescues, roadside kindness, brilliant South African innovation and an important reminder to hold on when life feels impossibly heavy.
South Africa (12 September 2026) – There is a lot happening in South Africa. There always is. Trending stories, difficult stories, stories that make us angry and stories that can make everything feel a little heavier than it should.
But there are also the most amazing stories. Good Things! That is why Good Things Guy exists.
Every Friday, the Good Things Guy newsletter is sent to 100,000 subscribers, something we have been doing for 11 years now. We publish around 110 good news stories every week and the newsletter brings together 15 of our favourites. But not everyone is subscribed. So that is why we publish our “Saturday Wrap Up”… a little window into our good things.
Before we get to this week’s stories, I want to talk about something that matters. Something I wrote about on my socials this week.
The first time I really understood suicide, and the trauma left behind, I was 17 years old. I think of Gareth often. I had known him all my life. We grew up together. We even called each other cousins. He had the biggest smile, the most infectious laugh and was a really, really nice guy. He felt like another big brother to me. Even though I was the youngest, he always included me. He never left me behind.
Until he did.
Since then, I have felt that loss over and over again. There are simply too many good humans who are no longer here. Too many friends. Too many families left asking questions they may never get answers to.
This week marked World Suicide Prevention Day and it brought all of those people back into my thoughts.
In January this year, I had the opportunity to interview Ben West, the man behind Reasons to Stay, a beautiful website filled with letters from strangers offering reasons to hold on. It mattered when I first heard about it. It matters even more this week. Actually, it matters every day.
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That is why I believe so deeply in being kinder than necessary. To strangers. To friends. To the person who annoys you in traffic. To the person who seems completely fine. And, most importantly, to yourself.
So here’s some advice today: Watch more sunrises. Stop doing stuff you hate. Believe in yourself. Do what feels good. Take risks. Make yourself proud. Love your body more. Hang with awesome peeps. Throw toxic in the trash. Give horrible people the boot. Yes, I know that last bit sounds like it goes against the kindness thing, but letting the kak ones go can also be one of the kindest things you ever do for yourself. Smash some goals. Walk barefoot. Share your magic. Love louder. Flaunt your awesome. Be a nice human. Be the reason someone smiles today. Be freaking brave.
And when you cannot do any of that, please reach out.
Hold on. Reach out. Be kind to yourself.
And that is where this week’s good news stories fit into all of this.
We cannot always know the battles people are fighting and we certainly cannot fix everything that is broken. But we can show up. We can notice. We can care. We can choose kindness. And this week, South Africans did exactly that. These are just a few of their stories.
A Voice From the Sky Brought a Hiker Home
Imagine being stranded on a cliff high above Newlands, darkness setting in, your phone battery disappearing and no safe way forwards or backwards… then a drone flies overhead… and starts talking to you.
That surreal moment was part of an extraordinary 14-hour Wilderness Search And Rescue operation on Table Mountain after a young hiker became trapped on steep terrain. While specialist rope teams battled through the mountain towards him, an EMS drone helped locate him and, brilliantly, was used to tell him that rescuers knew exactly where he was and help was coming.
It’s an incredible rescue story and one of our most read articles this week. Get the full story here.
A Giant Snake Is Taking on River Pollution
No, Joburg doesn’t suddenly have a 70-metre reptile problem. This “snake” is made from polystyrene pulled out of the very river it is now helping to protect.
The Fountain River Environmental Sanctuary Hennops team has installed an enormous “poly-snake” across the Kaalspruit, described by the organisation as the country’s most polluted stream. The structure rises with floodwaters, trapping floating plastic before it can travel further downstream while also helping to slow water, encourage sedimentation and reduce erosion.
It is South African problem-solving in action. Take the rubbish causing the problem and turn it into part of the solution. Read that full article here.
A South African Idea Is Going Global
Talita Boodhram will represent MiDesk Global at the International Festival of Youth 2026 in Yekaterinburg, Russia, where thousands of young people from around the globe will gather to exchange ideas and solutions.
MiDesk is a wheeled schoolbag that transforms into a desk and chair, complete with a solar-powered light and USB charging capability. Talita came up with the idea after seeing children trying to learn without proper desks and deciding there had to be a practical solution.
“South Africa has no shortage of young people with ideas. We are creative, resourceful and used to finding ways to solve the challenges around us,” she says.
And now one of those ideas is travelling from South Africa to the world.
SPAR Hero of the Week: She Could Have Driven Past
Jacquie Brits and her son were travelling from Bethlehem towards Barberton when they spotted three men stranded beside the road near Vrede.
Two tyres were destroyed and the men had apparently been there since the previous day. They had no food, no water and seemingly no way home.
Jacquie could have done what thousands of us have probably done before: slowed down, felt terrible and kept driving.
Instead, she stopped. She became a helper!
“I’ve been stranded too, and I’ve been helped by angels, and I recognised that look of absolute relief he gave me when we left. For us, it was fantastic to pay forward our blessings,” she said.
It’s something so small. But so good too. Read the full article here.
Kids’ Storybook: The Man in the Suit Who Never Gave Up
Every morning, Sthembiso Nkuna stood at the traffic lights wearing a suit and tie. He wasn’t heading to an office. He was looking for work. After losing his job, the father of four collected bottles and cleaned rubbish from cars for small coins, but he kept wearing that suit because it reminded him that he still believed in himself.
Then Lorrel Singh noticed him.
Through her Lovers of Humanity initiative, Lorrel helped Sthembiso search for work and supported him through the months that followed. Eventually, the call they had been hoping for came: Sthembiso had landed a job at a restaurant.
We turned his beautiful story into this week’s Good Things Guy Kids’ Storybook because there is a lesson in it worth sharing with every child… keep showing up, keep believing and never underestimate what can happen when another human being decides to see you.
OnePlan Pawsitive Story: 1,222 Days Is Long Enough, Mufasa
Mufasa has the name of a king and, by all accounts, enough love to fill an entire kingdom. What he doesn’t have is a home. The three-year-old Pitbull has spent an astonishing 1,222 days waiting at TEARS Animal Rescue for somebody to choose him. Once he trusts you, the kisses, tail wags and affection arrive in abundance.
After recently undergoing surgery on both back legs, thanks in part to a wonderful volunteer who helped raise the funds, Mufasa is recovering in foster care.
And TEARS is hoping he never has to return to his kennel.
We shared his story in the hopes that we can assist in finding him, his forever home.
And that’s just a little bit of the good. These are only a handful of the stories we shared this week. There were around 110 of them.
That means while the headlines elsewhere may have been telling you everything that went wrong, thousands of South Africans were getting on with doing things right. Helping strangers. Saving hikers. Cleaning rivers. Building solutions. Finding jobs. Giving animals another chance. Showing up for people they may never meet again.
Good Things Guy has spent more than a decade looking for those stories, and I can tell you with absolute certainty that we have never run out of them.
So subscribe to the newsletter. Read a few more good things. Send one to somebody who needs it. And maybe, somewhere along the way this weekend, create a little good news of your own.
You never really know who needs it.
Be kinder. Love louder. Hold on.
And remember… there are always good things.
by 
