Meet our winning Valentine’s Day couples

ONE couple never had a honeymoon, another need a break from being locked down with their 10-year-old triplets, and for another it’s a chance to celebrate their second wedding anniversary.

These are the winners of the Independent on Saturday’s hugely popular Valentine’s Day competition, which sees them spending a romantic night in the equally romantic Valley of 1000 Hills.

Cindy and Lucian van Wyk from Newlands East, with their five-monthold baby Callyn, “prayed and prayed” to win “because we need a break”.

And with their second anniversary coming up, it is a double treat. They couldn’t celebrate their first because of lockdown, and Cindy was pregnant with Callyn – so they are looking forward to this time away. They are having a date night, so little Callyn will sleep over with family.

Subscribers Jasantha and Kevan Iyappa are parents of 10-year-old triplets, so they love the idea of having a break. For them Saturday mornings are not complete without coffee in one hand and the paper in the other. “We had to enter,” says Kevan.

For the couple lockdown has been tough, losing family members to Covid19, and they didn’t celebrate their wedding anniversary either.

“But Jacintha has a big birthday (with a zero in it) coming up soon – so it is the perfect treat,” said Kevan.

Deandre Ramcharan collected the prize to give to his parents for Valentine’s Day. He encouraged his dad, Sathaseelan Ramcharan (known as Ravi), to enter.

“My dad is a policeman. He works very hard and is often working shifts on the weekend. I don’t think he and mom even went on honeymoon. I think this may be the first time they have entered a competition. The whole family is chuffed. Dad is a subscriber and reads the paper every weekend – he loves it.”

The three couples each win a dinner reservation and bed and breakfast at one of three luxury lodges – Kangelani Lodge, AmmaZulu African Palace, or Eagle’s View – in the Valley of a 1000 Hills. They also win three Spa massage treatments from Willow Way Manor, Tree Spa; the Brigit Filmer Spa and Skin; and Pink Petals, as well as beaded Zulu Love Letters from Woza Moya.

All three couples love the hills ... all thousand of them.