The 35-year-old woman struck gold last week when her six number selection was the only winning ticket for the R114m PowerBall.
Johannesburg – The woman who won the R114m PowerBall jackpot last week will see her life change over. The 35-year-old woman, who lives in a backroom in Soweto, struck gold last week when her six number selection was the only winning ticket for the R114m PowerBall.
She had bought her ticket at a Victor and Son’s Café in Roodepoort and manually selected the numbers.
With over R100m in the bank, the woman now plans to splurge on a new house for herself, building another one for her mother back home and buying herself a luxury car – but she admits she has to learn how to drive first.
And she also wants to say hi in style, to her ex-boyfriend, who apparently left her because she was broke.
“I can’t wait to drive past my ex-boyfriend in my new car. He will probably faint when he sees me waving at him. He broke up with me because I was broke and didn’t have a fancy job,” she said.
The operators of the South African Lottery, Ithuba, said the woman had spent just R5 when she won the PowerBall jackpot last week.
The woman had not intended to gamble, but only did so when she saw many other people queing to buy their tickets.
“On my way from work, I saw a long queue of people with bet slips and I knew they must be pursuing something big, even though I had no idea about what the jackpot prize was. I became curious and searched for some coins in my bag to see if I could also play,” she told Ithuba.
Outlining her struggles before winning the money, the mother of four said at times she could not afford to pay her rent and she would ask her brother to assist with her rental payment.
She said the lottery win would help her put her children through school, and provide for them meaningfully.
“My four children have been staying with my mother back at home, and I have never been able to spend as much time with them as I wish since I had to work in Johannesburg.
“I am mostly grateful that this money will give me an opportunity to raise my children, to be able to take them to school and have the pleasure of preparing a scrumptious meal that they can enjoy when they get back from school, something that I’ve been wishing for, for a long time.” she said.
Counselling and financial advice was afforded to the woman.
Meanwhile, Busisiwe Msizi, head of corporate relations at Ithuba, said they treated the PowerBall winner to a five-star hotel stay.
“Judging by the amount of time the winner spent with both the psychologist and the financial advisor, we are confident that she will make sound financial decisions that will secure her family’s future for generations to come,” said Msizi.
During her hotel stay, the winner was in awe of her hotel room, Msizi relayed.
“The winner was in complete disbelief when she saw her room. She said in isiZulu: ‘umbhede wami ngempela lona, omkhulu kangaka!’ (which means, ‘is this big bed really mine’),” said Msizi.
IOL
