The R91-million PowerBall winner is a 43-year-old mother of two teenagers who slipped her winning ticket into her husband's wallet and booked them into a Cape Town hotel at the weekend, before laying claim to her prize yesterday.
The announcement comes in the wake of controversial claims that Stanley Philander, a deaf man from Parkwood in Cape Town, was the holder of the PowerBall ticket with Friday night's winning numbers on it.
The rags-to-riches story of the mute hardware-store cleaner seized South Africa's attention, drew his family into the spotlight, created queues of people wanting handouts from him and prompted Minister of Women, Youth, Children and Persons with Disabilities Noluthando Mayende-Sibiya to issue a statement asking people to leave the Philander family alone.
However, Professor Bongani Khumalo, of National Lottery operator Gidani, announced yesterday that the ticket held by Philander had in fact been bought on Saturday, the day after the draw, disqualifying it from Friday night's draw and making it a valid contender for last night's draw.
Khumalo said the jackpot prize of R91 068 427 had been paid over to the real winner, who was to remain anonymous, having agreed to allow only an "identikit" on her to be released. She had plans to buy a car for her oldest child, who will be starting university next year, and did not intend prioritising a holiday immediately.
Khumalo said he had spoken to both the woman and her husband to congratulate them, and said the couple, who run a medium-sized business, did not intend telling anyone about their win - not even their children - and would not be changing their lives in a drastic way.
"These are mature, stable people who will be able to use the money wisely. I was left with a sense of comfort knowing that the money is in the hands of people who will use their fortune well," Khumalo said.
Khumalo said the winner had been gripped by an unexplained sense of nervousness while queueing to buy her QuickPick ticket, and had allowed other people to move ahead of her before she finally made her purchase.
He said she had been pleased that her win - the 22nd rollover of the PowerBall lottery - was the draw dedicated to 91-year-old Nelson Mandela on the 20th anniversary commemorating his release.
In the meantime, Gidani has had no contact with the Philander family, despite reports that they had been whisked away from their home by Gidani officials.
"Stanley Philander has not presented himself to us as a winner, nor has his wife Dianne," Khumalo said, adding that he was hugely concerned about what was happening to the family, particularly as there were children involved.
"This story about the Philander family is one we are still grappling with and trying to understand," he said when asked what had happened to create the mistaken claim that they were the jackpot winners.
- Tickets for Lotto and PowerBall draws can be bought up until 9pm on draw nights, when all machines are shut down. They re-open only at 6am the next day, and all tickets bought after a draw are then valid for the next one.