Domestic worker hits Lotto jackpot

THE life of a Pretoria domestic worker of over 30 years has forever been changed after she spent just R7.50 at her local garage on a Lotto ticket and walked away with more than

R70 million.

The single mother of one purchased the winning ticket at a Shell garage and manually selected her numbers for the PowerBall Plus draw of September 5.

The woman said she initially thought that only four of the numbers she played had won.

It was only after she told her employer that she had won with four numbers that her employer made her aware that she had, in fact, won the big jackpot.

She then immediately rushed back to the Shell garage where the cashier advised her to write her name and ID number on the back of her winning ticket and go to the offices of Ithuba to claim her winnings.

Sharing her life story, the woman said she had been drowning in debt as she is the sole breadwinner of her household.

The night before the draw, she put her ticket in the Bible a friend had given her and went on her knees and prayed to God to give her a sign that soon all her troubles would be over.

That night, she could not sleep and again at 3am, she asked God to bless her and her family with good fortune.

“Our winners come from all walks of life and are spread out across all provinces,” said Ithuba spokesperson Khensani Mabuza.

“This is precisely what Ithuba set out to do when we were granted the licence to operate the National Lottery in 2015 – increase the National Lottery footprint and make it accessible to all South Africans,” Mabuza added.

The winner has already resigned from her job as a domestic worker and plans to use her winnings towards renovating the family house she shares with her daughter, grandchild and younger brother. She also plans to help her daughter with her tertiary fees so that she can be the first in their family to get a tertiary qualification.

Asked how she picked her winning numbers, she said she always plays the same numbers but sometimes picks numbers that are popular and drawn often.

She plans to continue playing the lottery and will keep her winning receipt in her Bible as a reminder to always thank God for her fortunes.

After receiving free financial advice and trauma counselling as part of the Ithuba winners’ support programme, most of her winnings will be invested so she can live off the interest.