Good News

BULLETIN 14 January 

Good afternoon, here is your Good News:

# Rayyan Ebrahim from Pinelands High School in Cape Town is South Africa’s top achiever of the matric class of 2024. The top candidate in the country has come from the province in seven of the past eight National Senior Certificate examinations. The province achieved an 86.6-percent pass rate. Ebrahim says it took a lot of hard work and commitment to obtain what he achieved:

# A project to empower street vendors has been launched in Cape Town. The New Beginnings Project aims to provide custom, foldable vendor stands made from recyclable materials. Founder Jeffrey Doveton says the initiative was inspired by a retrenched security guard selling boerewors rolls under poor conditions. The organisation built him durable stands to offer sellers functional workspaces with dignity. New Beginnings Project is now fundraising for tools, materials, and support to expand to other areas.

# Twenty-three-year-old University of the Witwatersrand honours student, Kamogelo Mabe, was recently awarded the prestigious Abe Bailey Travel Bursary. The bursary is awarded to outstanding South African students or young professionals who demonstrate exceptional leadership qualities, academic excellence, and a commitment to the future of the country. The bursary offers recipients an opportunity to participate in a three-week educational and cultural tour of the UK. Mabe is doing his honours in Critical Diversity Studies.

# The DA has congratulated Cape Town Pride, for bringing the World Pride event to Cape Town in 2028. The DA’s, Nicholas Gotsell, says World Pride was started in Rome in 2000 and is described as an event dedicated to raising global awareness and visibility for LGBTQIA+ issues. He says it comprises a human rights conference and several outdoor events to mark the celebration of equality and human rights:

# A haul of Bob Dylan memorabilia will be auctioned off at the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville on Saturday. The auction titled, Celebrating Bob Dylan: The Al Aronowitz Archive, T Bone Burnett, and More, includes early drafts of the singer and songwriter’s number-one hit Mr. Tambourine Man. It also includes multiple pieces of original art, including a signed oil painting from 1968, and an analogue disc of the singer’s 2021 re-recording of The Times They Are A-Changin. Dylan sold more than 125-million records during his career.

# And finally: South Africa’s passport has climbed five places on the 2025 Henley Passport Index, returning to the top 50 for the first time since 2014. This reflects improved mobility despite losing visa-free access to Ireland, reducing the total accessible destinations. The Henley Passport Index, based on 19-years of data from the International Air Transport Authority, evaluates 199 passports and 227 destinations monthly. While European Union nations also faced setbacks, Singapore and Japan lead the rankings with visa-free access to 195 and 193 countries, respectively.

Stay tuned for more news………….