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Tropika Island of Treasure Winner To Graduate at DUT

Tropika Island of Treasure Winner To Graduate at DUT

The Durban University of Technology (DUT) graduand, Lisanne Lazarus has two big reasons to celebrate, one of them is her triumphant heroics in the SABC 3 reality show Tropika Island of Treasure, which landed her half a million rands as the ultimate winner. The second one is that she will be graduating with a National Diploma in Journalism from DUT on 11 May 2018 at Fred Crookes Sports Centre, Steve Biko Campus, Durban, achieving the Dean’s Merit award for her excellent academic results.

“I am so excited and grateful to have achieved a Deans Merit award as it was not an easy road for me. I am also a former Miss DUT, Miss eThekwini 2014, Miss SA Campus-1st Princess 2016, Miss Mamelodi Sundowns SA-2nd Princess and Gateway’s brand ambassador. I did a lot which was required for me to go out to events. So I would attend classes, rush off to an event and come back to classes. It took a lot of hard work and dedication to reach this point,” she said.

She also stressed that she’s very competitive and always strives to be the best, be it in a competition or in an examination or test. “I am always aiming to do my best as I will not be satisfied until I obtain the highest mark,” she chuckled.

Lazarus is currently the Digital Producer East Coast Radio’s Breakfast Show. Lazarus’s future plan is to ultimately become a TV presenter. However, she also wants to continue her academic journey and plans to enrol for her BTech in Public Relations Management at DUT.

Besides tackling her studies, Lazarus is a popular face on television, having participated as one of the contestants on the Tropika Island Of Treasure-Season 8, on SABC 3. She was recently declared as the winner of the reality series, Tropika Island of Treasure-(Season 8). Seven South Africans teamed up with seven celebrities, undergoing various challenges and eliminations, in a bid to win a share of an R1 million.

Lisanne Lazarus and Brendan Peyper (talented South African musician and songwriter) from #TeamRed claimed victory, making them the winners of #TIOT8 and of the prize of R1 million on the final episode of the series on 30 April 2018.

Although Lazarus never had any intention of auditioning for the show, fate had dictated that she was destined for it. “I have always known about TIOT, however, it didn’t really strike me to enter. I was completing my Work Integrated Learning (WIL) at Gateway Theatre of Shopping as the head of communications and one of the jobs was to attend the TIOT8 auditions that took place at Gateway and just cover it on social media. Whilst being there, I was encouraged by promoters and my superiors to enter. So I did, but for fun,” she said.

Lazarus also has her own non-profit organisation (NGO) called the Lindokuhle Creche. The reason for establishing her organisation is that she grew up near a remote area where she was exposed to shack fires. “One day a five-year-old boy called Lindokuhle, died in a shack fire because he was home alone as his parents had nowhere to leave him,” she said. This was her reason for opting to start this non-profit organization in his honour.

Her advice to future Journalism students at DUT is to do it for the passion and always aim to excel in it whatever they do.

Pictured: Lisanne Lazarus

Waheeda Peters

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