[imagesource:here]

So you won R56 million – what’s the first frivolous spend that comes to mind?

I could go all day – how much time do you have?

Some of South Africa’s recent lottery winners have shown, at least with their words, that they intend to put their money to good use.

A 30-year-old man who won R51 million in March said he intended to use his money to pursue his dream of becoming a social worker, which is a tad nobler than the R60 million winner who said he would buy his ex-girlfriend “a fridge, probably a washing machine too, just to say no hard feelings”.

That chap won the lottery just days after his girlfriend dumped him and moved out. Ouch.

Earlier this week, the man who won R56 million outlined his plans for the money, and here’s something we have never seen before.

IOL reports:

[He intends to] exhume the remains of his family members and secure a peaceful resting place for them…

First on my list of priorities is to exhume the bodies of my loved ones that have been laid to rest in other provinces and surrounding cemeteries in the Western Cape that are no longer well maintained, this will allow for me to secure a peaceful and final resting place for my family members.”

Fair enough, really.

An entirely reasonable, albeit rather unusual, priority, given that it’s the first time I’ve seen it publicly mentioned by a lottery winner.

There will, of course, be money left over to play around with:

Apart from giving his deceased loved ones a final resting place, the winner said he and his wife planned to invest in property.

“We also want to find the perfect plot of land to build our dream home and finally, to invest a significant portion of our winnings.”

The winner said that he is financially cautious, as is his wife, so they wouldn’t be making any rash decisions.

He bought the winning ticket at an OK Minimark in Thornton, Cape Town, spending R45 on tickets and using numbers that represent “a significant date in my life”.

Before we part ways, spare a thought for this Californian woman, who claims she washed a winning lottery ticket, worth a cool $26 million (around R365 million), in the laundry.

That will haunt you.

[source:iol]