Port Elizabeth domestic worker Amanda Moya responded to news that she had won a R5.3-million Ferrari with “Mna?” (Me?) She was napping when the call came.
Moya, a mother of three, impulsively entered a national Tiso Blackstar competition offering a lucky reader of the group’s newspapers a chance of winning a R5.3-million Ferrari 458 Spider.
Last year she was told she was one of 130 finalists out of more than 4.5 million entries.
Occasionally she indulged in the fantasy of winning the Italian stallion, but mostly shrugged it off.
When her phone showed “unknown number” she thought it was a call centre agent telling her to pay overdue accounts. Curiosity got the better of her.
“The person said ‘congratulations, you have won a Ferrari’. In my moment of shock, I answered: ‘Mna?’ and they all laughed.”
Moya will be flown to Johannesburg to be wined and dined and officially awarded her prize.
Moya, 35, grew up in the farm area around Lovemore.
She never knew her mother, while her father was “taken away by social workers” when she was young.
Moya moved in with her relatives and did her junior schooling at Lovemore Primary School.
“I didn’t go to high school because there was no money, so I decided to let the family take their children to school and I’d fend for myself,” she said.
When the other children in the house left for school, 15-year-old Moya would go to a neighbouring farmer to do some weeding for R50 a week.
The mother of three moved to a tiny shack in Walmer Township in 2008 with her partner, a gardener.
In 2013, the pair lost everything in a fire and had to start from scratch.
“There were times when we would have no food at all and no jobs.
“That is why when the call came, it felt like a load was being lifted with each scream and shout of excitement. I still don’t believe that me, Amanda, has won.”
Disbelief after winning Ferrari
Moya, a mother of three, impulsively entered a national Tiso Blackstar competition offering a lucky reader of the group’s newspapers a chance of winning a R5.3-million Ferrari 458 Spider.
Last year she was told she was one of 130 finalists out of more than 4.5 million entries.
Occasionally she indulged in the fantasy of winning the Italian stallion, but mostly shrugged it off.
When her phone showed “unknown number” she thought it was a call centre agent telling her to pay overdue accounts. Curiosity got the better of her.
“The person said ‘congratulations, you have won a Ferrari’. In my moment of shock, I answered: ‘Mna?’ and they all laughed.”
Moya will be flown to Johannesburg to be wined and dined and officially awarded her prize.
Moya, 35, grew up in the farm area around Lovemore.
She never knew her mother, while her father was “taken away by social workers” when she was young.
Moya moved in with her relatives and did her junior schooling at Lovemore Primary School.
“I didn’t go to high school because there was no money, so I decided to let the family take their children to school and I’d fend for myself,” she said.
When the other children in the house left for school, 15-year-old Moya would go to a neighbouring farmer to do some weeding for R50 a week.
The mother of three moved to a tiny shack in Walmer Township in 2008 with her partner, a gardener.
In 2013, the pair lost everything in a fire and had to start from scratch.
“There were times when we would have no food at all and no jobs.
“That is why when the call came, it felt like a load was being lifted with each scream and shout of excitement. I still don’t believe that me, Amanda, has won.”
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