A Western Cape unemployed mother of five who depends on a social grant to care for her family has bagged R14m in the Lotto jackpot.

“I am extremely happy and grateful to have won this jackpot. I have a big family and we all live together in our small home,” said the winner.

She collected the jackpot in last Wednesday’s draw and her winning ticket was bought in Bridgton, Oudtshoorn. 

She purchased her ticket using the manual selection with a wager of R80.

“This is an opportunity for me to move to a better area and to build a bigger house,” the excited mother told lottery operator Ithuba.

Oudtshoorn is a small town in the Little Karoo region. The town’s economy is primarily reliant on ostrich farming and the tourism industry, which has taken a severe knock as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Ithuba said the winner has been unemployed and struggling to make ends meet.

“The woman will finally be able to break out of the social grant system, and that is the significant difference players experience when winning any of the National Lottery’s life-changing jackpots.”

Ithuba said the latest winner’s story is one of hope for people who depend on government social grants and are unable to find employment to sustain themselves and their families.

Ithuba CEO Charmaine Mabuza said: “We offer our winners trauma counselling as winning amounts of this magnitude for the first time in their lives can be quite overwhelming. We also offer our winners financial advice at no cost.”

TimesLIVE