Good News

BULLETIN 18 February

Good afternoon, here is your Good News:

# Freedom Front Plus Ekurhuleni councillor, Denise Janse van Rensburg, is one of the finalists for Mrs Commonwealth South Africa 2025. representing Gauteng. The pageant is recognised for its philanthropic approach to bridging communities through meaningful, hands-on initiatives. Janse van Rensburg says she embodies the pageant’s ethos of leadership, compassion, and cultural exchange:

# The University of Pretoria’s Student Representative Council has launched a fundraising campaign to raise five-million-rand for students in financial need. The initiative aims to assist with the first payments for registration before this week’s Friday deadline and help students struggling with debt. Vice-chancellor Francis Petersen also pledged to match the funds raised. SRC president Vhutshilo Muambadzi is urging alumni, corporate partners, and the university community to support students in accessing and completing their education.

# Minister of Basic Education, Siviwe Gwarube, handed over one-thousand-500 pairs of sports shoes to three schools in Cape Town. The footwear was donated by the Our Shoes Charity Organisation, which annually collects 50-thousand pairs of shoes from Ireland, and donates them to underprivileged children in South Africa. Gwarube says this forms part of the department’s efforts to ensure that no child is hindered from participating in sporting activities due to a lack of appropriate footwear:

# Celebrity MasterChef South Africa winner, Seth Shezi, has donated 52-thousand-rand to Ladles of Love. This is a Cape Town-based non-profit organisation, that provides nutritious and healthy foods to vulnerable children and poverty-stricken communities. Ladles of Love will use the funds to provide two nutritious meals per day for the whole year for 175 small children from two preschools in Delft and Fisantekraal. Shezi says winning MasterChef offered him the opportunity to tap into his humanitarian side, adding that giving back is deeply meaningful.

# And finally: Award-winning actor Matt Damon will play Odysseus in Christopher Nolan’s upcoming star-studded film The Odyssey, set to be released in July 2026. The film follows the Greek champion Odysseus on his tumultuous journey home after the Trojan War. Damon will star alongside Charlize Theron, Tom Holland, Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong’o and Anne Hathaway. This film for Nolan follows Oppenheimer, for which he won Best Picture and Best Director at the Academy Awards in March last year.

Stay tuned for more news………….