Good Things with Brent Lindeque 📺

This week’s episode of 'Good Things with Brent Lindeque' is honest, raw and filled with hope.

I got to sit down with Joe Fleming… a man whose journey across South Africa has been anything but ordinary, and whose purpose today is rooted in helping others find their way back to themselves.

Joe is the founder of Recharge, a men’s mental health walking community creating space for connection, conversation and healing across South Africa. He’s also the storyteller behind Here in South Africa and the owner of Bonafide Moto Co, hosting off-road motorcycle adventures since 2016. A US military veteran, Joe served in Iraq before stepping into corporate life back in the States… but love brought him to South Africa more than a decade ago, a decision that completely reshaped how he sees life, purpose and where he belongs. Over the past 13 years, he’s travelled the country documenting its beauty, its people and its stories… but somewhere along the way, the story he was really learning to understand was his own.

Joe speaks openly about a time when he found himself in what he describes as a “dark place”, a moment where everything felt overwhelming and the future felt impossibly far away. He shares how he reached a point where he tried to take his own life… and how, in that final moment, something intervened.

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❤️ Stories that matter. Conversations that count. All about South Africa's Good News Podcast! ❤️🇿🇦

In the lead-up to World TB Day (on the 24th of March), I sat down with Doctor Anura David, Senior Medical Scientist at the Wits Diagnostics Innovation Hub, for a podcast that puts people, progress and possibility at the centre of South Africa’s fight against tuberculosis.

Tuberculosis (TB) can feel like a distant topic for many, something that lives in statistics rather than everyday life, but this conversation changes that. It breaks things down in a way that is human, accessible and, most importantly, hopeful.

“South Africa has already made incredible progress in reducing TB,” Anura shares. “The next step is making testing easier, treatment shorter and care more accessible so that we can reach more people, faster.”

That progress is real. Since 2015, South Africa has reduced its TB incidence rate by 61%, a shift that speaks to the work being done across communities, clinics and laboratories. But what makes this moment exciting is what comes next.

In the episode, we unpack the innovations already on the horizon… from potential vaccines to a simple tongue swab test that could make diagnosis far less invasive, as well as shorter treatment options that could change how patients experience recovery.

“We are seeing technologies emerge that could completely shift how we detect and treat TB,” she explains. “The goal is to remove barriers so that people can get diagnosed early and start treatment quickly.”

This week’s podcast is not about overwhelming you with science, it is about showing how South African expertise is shaping real solutions with global impact and how those solutions translate into better care, earlier diagnoses and more lives changed.

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📆 New episodes drop weekly.

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❤️ Stories that matter. Conversations that count. All about South Africa's Good News Podcast! ❤️🇿🇦

Eight years ago, South Africa held its breath. Parents refreshed their phones, communities shared posts at lightning speed and strangers whispered prayers for a tiny baby they had never met. It was a moment when the country collectively leaned forward, hoping against hope for the ending everyone was desperate to hear.

On the 2nd of May 2018, the Pink Ladies organisation for Missing Children in South Africa issued a kidnapped child alert after it was alleged that a domestic worker had taken a baby named Eden for a walk from the family home in Brackendowns, Alberton.

Eden had been tied to her back with a light blue blanket.

She never returned.

The story gripped the nation almost instantly. Minutes turned into hours, hours turned into days, and South Africans across the country found themselves emotionally invested in a story that felt far too close to home. Parents hugged their children a little tighter, timelines filled with messages of support and an entire country hoped for a miracle.

And then four days later... that miracle arrived.

Baby Eden was found and reunited with his family. It was good news that travelled just as fast as the heartbreak had days earlier. Relief swept across the country, and the story restored something powerful in the national spirit: the reminder that hope still exists, even in moments that feel impossibly dark.

Later that same year, Eden’s mom, Bronwyn Laird, joined me in studio on the Good Things Guy podcast to talk about the experience and the emotional whirlwind her family had been through. What she shared that day stayed with many of us long after the microphones were switched off.

“We’ve seen miracles happen and prayers answered,” Bronwyn said at the time.

“We cannot allow what 6 individuals, 5 of whom we have never even met – what they chose to do – to affect how we see the world, how we evaluate relationships going forward or how we live our lives.

Hate just isn’t in our vocabulary. Hate changes nothing but love changes everything. Love wins.”

Now, eight years later, Bronwyn joins me again on this week’s episode of Good Things with Brent Lindeque. This time the conversation is about the past but also about the incredible journey that followed. Bronwyn has written a book about the entire ordeal, sharing the raw, human experience of those terrifying days and the powerful lessons that came afterwards. In a full-circle moment, the Good Things Guy podcast and our original conversation even form part of that story.

While the chapter that began in 2018 started with fear and uncertainty, the pages that followed are filled with healing, growth and a family that chose love over bitterness.

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📆 New episodes drop weekly.

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❤️ Stories that matter. Conversations that count. All about South Africa's Good News Podcast! ❤️🇿🇦

Protecting wildlife is not just a job for Brendan and Danelle Murray... it is a life’s calling, and this week’s episode of “Good Things with Brent Lindeque” dives into the incredible work they are doing to save some of South Africa’s most vulnerable creatures.

I got to chat with Brendan Murray, co-founder of the Owl Rescue Centre, about how he and his wife turned their lifelong passion for wildlife conservation into an organisation that now rescues and rehabilitates thousands of animals every year. Brendan explained that their journey began when they realised owls were disappearing at an alarming rate and had become one of the most common wildlife casualties arriving at veterinary practices.

“Realising that there was a rapid decline in owl numbers and that owls had become one of the most common wildlife casualties brought into veterinary practices, we decided to focus all our efforts on conserving them.”

That decision led to the creation of the Owl Rescue Centre in Hartbeespoort, where the team now takes in roughly two-thousand owls every year through rescue efforts. Injured owls are rehabilitated and, when ready, released back into the wild at the Owl Sanctuary, a farm situated within a 12,000-hectare conservancy where they can hunt, nest and thrive again.

Over time, the organisation has grown to protect a wide variety of wildlife species and contribute to important conservation and research projects, all driven by Brendan and Danelle’s dedication to protecting vulnerable animals.

“When we acquired the farm now known as the Owl Sanctuary, our dream was to secure a place for the owls where they would be protected and looked after, a piece of habitat that would always belong to them.”

If you want to hear the full story behind the Owl Rescue Centre and the incredible conservation work happening just outside Hartbeespoort, you can listen to the full conversation below (or wherever you watch or listen to your favourite podcasts).

🎧 Watch and listen to the episode on all our social platforms (like all of them).

📆 New episodes drop weekly.

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❤️ Stories that matter. Conversations that count. All about South Africa's Good News Podcast! ❤️🇿🇦

South Africa’s unemployment crisis remains one of the biggest challenges facing our country. The statistics are heartbreaking, with millions of capable and talented South Africans struggling to find meaningful work.

But alongside the challenges, new ideas are emerging that help connect local talent with global opportunities in ways that were almost impossible just a few years ago.

This week on Good Things with Brent Lindeque, we chat with South African entrepreneur Anton van Heerden about how he is helping South Africans work for international companies while staying right here at home. Through his company, DNA Employer of Record (DNA EOR), Anton is creating pathways for skilled South Africans to access global careers, earn international currencies, and still live on home soil.

Anton’s career is deeply rooted in South Africa’s growth story. He built and led VIP Payroll, which was later acquired by Sage, where he spent more than 20 years leading a multinational team before launching DNA EOR. His mission is simple: help South Africans access global opportunities safely, compliantly, and without ever having to leave home.

The idea is powerful. Instead of relocating abroad to find international work, South Africans can now effectively become “digital nomads” in their own country, working remotely for global companies while remaining connected to their families, communities and the place they call home.

🎧 Watch and listen to the episode on all our social platforms (like all of them).

📆 New episodes drop weekly.

🏡 Powered by BetterBond. Filmed at Primedia Studios.

❤️ Stories that matter. Conversations that count. All about South Africa's Good News Podcast! ❤️🇿🇦