A Suzuki Jimny promises adventure. Through the National Sea Rescue Institute’s Cars4Good competition, it also offers something more: a chance to help the people who respond when someone else’s adventure goes wrong.
The 2026 competition features four Suzuki Jimny five-door vehicles, each representing a different aspect of the NSRI’s work. Together, they tell the story of how public support helps the NSRI save lives and prevent drowning.
Two Suzuki Jimny GLX five-door vehicles are still up for grabs in the final draw of 2026. Each ticket helps support the NSRI’s life-saving work, from rescue operations and lifeguarding to water safety education.
Between January and October 2026, NSRI crews undertook 781 operations, assisting 1,005 people in difficulty, 243 vessels and 53 animals. Behind those figures stands a network of more than 1,500 unpaid volunteers, available around the clock, every day of the year. Keeping them ready takes training, equipment, maintained rescue craft and the generosity of people who may never need their help.
Red: ready to respond
As the festive season approaches, more people will be swimming, boating, fishing and spending time around water. For NSRI crews, this means preparing for a busy period of rescue calls.
While others take a holiday, volunteer crews remain on standby around the clock, every day throughout the festive season. They depend on training, reliable equipment and coordination with other emergency services.
The red Jimny represents this readiness: keeping crews equipped and ready to respond when someone needs help.
Yellow: preventing the emergency
A successful day on a beach can mean that very little appears to happen. A swimmer moves out of a dangerous area. A family chooses a safer place to enter the water. Someone recognises a lifeguard’s warning and turns back.
During the 2025/26 summer season, NSRI lifeguards recorded 251 rescues and 13,359 preventative actions while monitoring more than 54,000 bathers.
The yellow Jimny tells this story: the watchfulness and early intervention of NSRI Lifeguards who help keep a day at the beach from becoming an emergency.
Pink: help within reach
Sometimes, the first person to reach someone in difficulty is another beachgoer.
Over 2,100 Pink Rescue Buoys are located around South Africa’s waterways, helping keep people in difficulty afloat while help is on the way.
From January to October alone, the NSRI recorded 21 Pink Rescue Buoy rescues by members of the public.
It is a visible reminder that communities have a role in water safety, too.
The pink Jimny represents this simple, practical programme: emergency flotation is often a life-saver.
Blue: helping animals in distress
Animal rescue is an important part of the NSRI’s work.
The 53 animals assisted by crews this year reflect the variety of situations volunteers encounter. These responses draw on seamanship, equipment and ability to work with specialist organisations when animals need help.
The blue Jimny highlights this work: helping save lives, great and small.
Support that goes further
Summer brings more people to our beaches, rivers and dams. By the end of October 2026, the NSRI had reached 692,283 people through water safety education and delivered 13,241 survival swimming lessons.
As families prepare to spend more time around water, this knowledge and these skills become especially valuable. Recognising danger, choosing safer swimming spots and knowing what to do when someone needs help can save lives.
“Every ticket sold in the Cars4Good competition helps put a trained rescuer on the water, a water safety educator in a classroom, or a survival swimming instructor in a pool. That preparation is what allows us to respond when emergencies happen,” says NSRI Chief Executive Officer Mike Vonk.
Public support helps sustain both the work that prevents drowning and the rescue response when an emergency happens. This festive season, a Cars4Good ticket is one way to help keep that work going.
Two Jimnys. One final chance.
Don’t miss your chance to win one of two Suzuki Jimny GLX five-door vehicles in the final Cars4Good draw of the year. Limited tickets remain, and every entry helps support the NSRI’s life-saving work.
Entries close on 15 December 2026. The draw takes place on 21 December 2026. Enter now at https://bit.ly/4BvWgw4.
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A Suzuki Jimny promises adventure. Through the National Sea Rescue Institute’s Cars4Good competition, it also offers something more: a chance to help the people who respond when someone else’s adventure goes wrong. The 2026 competition features four Suzuki Jimny five-door vehicles, each representing a different aspect of the NSRI’s work. Together, they tell the story of how public support helps… Read more →
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