Cleaner cleans up at Lotto

[Miss-Delectable]

Cleaner cleans up at Lotto: News24: SouthAfrica: News

Winning a huge sum of money must be a very, very pleasant experience - especially if you were just getting by each month.

Stanley Philander, 52, a deaf and mute cleaner at a hardware shop in Wynberg, on Friday night won over R91m in the national lottery's PowerBall game.

This is the largest amount which has been paid out by the Lotto.

The jackpot had rolled over since 22 November and with each passing week grabbed the country's imagination.

Philander's wife, Diana, 50, is also deaf and mute. They live with their children, Logan, 9, and Kirsten, 6, in a wooden house in a family member's back yard, apparently somewhere in the Southern suburbs.

However, with the good news comes a bit of bad as well.

Great challenges, stress, lack of safety and pressure from family and the community is what awaits Cape Town's new instant millionaire.

These are the typical things a needy person will experience when he suddenly becomes a millionaire, according to several Cape Town psychologists speaking to Die Burger.

Moved to 'undisclosed location'

Apparently after they were approached for money by several people in the community, they're now staying at an undisclosed location.

Several residents of Wynberg, when asked, recognised the man as the deaf man who'd won the "lotto".

According to Dr Petri van der Merwe, a psychiatrist at Cape Gate Medi-Clinic, the couple's new wealth can bring many negative and positive consequences.

"Now they can fulfil their dreams and improve their standard of living. On the other hand, they can experience a lot of pressure from the community and family. That can become very stressful."

Dr Ester Niemand, a clinical psychologist, said the family probably feel extremely overwhelmed, helpless and a little lost since they became aware of their new status.

It's possible that they could feel very defenceless because they don't have control over the situation.

Appointing a financial advisor would be a good idea, but even that could involve problems.

"Many people will be able to exploit them."

According to Niemand, it wasn't a wise decision go public with the winner's identity.

 

[Miss-Delectable]

Deaf South African lottery millionaire flees supplicants

Deaf South African lottery millionaire flees supplicants | Lifestyle | Reuters

A deaf South African cleaner and his family who won 91 million rand ($11.82 million) in a lottery have fled their home after hordes of relatives, friends and strangers besieged them to ask for money.

South African media reported that 52-year-old Cape Town hardware store cleaner Stanley Philander and his family disappeared from their wooden shack in the back garden of a relative's home after their win attracted scores of people.

Philander and his wife of 12 years, Diana - who is also deaf - told a Cape Town tabloid newspaper that they had been inundated with requests for money since news got out that their ticket matched Friday night's winning numbers and then disappeared, South Africa's Daily Star newspaper reported.

The Star and other news outlets quoted Diana Philander's sister, Wilma Vlok, as saying that after news of Philander's win spread on Friday night, "family members and people that I don't even know" came to her home in the Parkwood suburb of Cape Town.

Sometime on Sunday people, who Vlok believed were from the National Lottery, took Philander, his wife and their children, Logan and Kirsten, to an undisclosed location, the Star reported. Vlok was not at home when the Philanders left, so she was not sure where they were or when they would be back.

South African Disabilities Minister Noluthando Mayende-Sibiya appealed for supplicants to stop approaching the Philanders for a share of the lottery winnings, which rose to 91 million rand after the lottery was rolled over several times.

"This record price will change the life of the winner forever," the South African Press Association quoted Mayende-Sibiya as saying.

Millions of blacks in South Africa are still living in poverty after apartheid ended in 1994, with government under increasing pressure to deliver on its promises to improve housing and water provision.

A spate of violent protests has highlighted unhappiness over the lack of electricity, water and sanitation, with South African police firing rubber bullets in the latest flare-up earlier this month.

A spokesperson for the company which operates the National Lottery, Gidani, said in a statement on its website on Monday that it is not always easy to come to terms with a sudden life altering Jackpot of millions.

"We have trained professionals to help the winners to come to terms with their sudden fortune," Thembi Tulwana said in the statement.

South Africa's richest game, which rolled over 22 times before Friday's win, has produced four multimillionaires within a month of its existence - a 30 million rand winner from the inaugural Draw on October 23, 2009, a 12 million rand winner on October 30, a 7 million rand winner on November 10 and a 6.9 million rand winner on November 20.

I hope this couple will manage to hang on to their money in few years time. Also I hope they'll have interpreters in attendance to learn how to manage the money and what to do advised by the National lottery.

 

[Buffalo]

I doubt it because they didn't make it clear to him what would happened if he went public when they asked him for permission (if they did asked) to use his name in public. In my experiences, too many people are greedy. Sorry, that is how I see it.

 

[Miss-Delectable]

Deaf Mute Not The Lotto Winner

Deaf Mute Not The Lotto Winner : RICHMARK SENTINEL

The man widely reported to be the R91 million Lotto Powerball winner on Monday was today revealed to have bought his ticket the day after the momentous draw. Bongani Khumalo, chairman of Gidani, the company that operates the Lotto, said Philanders’ alleged win had been picked up by the media and he himself had not come forward to claim the prize.

The R91million prize is easily the largest jackpot ever won in South Africa and generated excitement over the lottery unseen in months. Gidani called a press conference today to explain away the misinformation in the media.

Khumalo confirmed that the winning ticket had been bought in the Western Cape but the actual winner is a middle aged mother of two. It is reported that the lady and her family are seeking privacy in a hotel while the storm blows over. She is reported to have exercised her right to privacy as per the Lotto licensing rules.