Mercy Murewa from Dangamvura in Mutare today (Tuesday) became the fourth winner of a VW Polo car in the Telecel Win Big Promo, while 20 others were announced as winners of the Samsung Galaxy S2 cellphones in daily draws.
Overcome with emotion, she could not hold back her tears when her name was announced as the winner of the vehicle.
She is the first woman and the first person from outside Harare to have won a car in this promotion. A Bindura woman won a Mazda BT-50 car in a previous Telecel promotion last year.
Of the 20 cellphone winners that were announced 13 were present to receive their prizes. Some of the winners who were unable to attend the event live as far away as in Bulawayo, Kadoma, Shurugwi, Chegutu and Chinhoyi.
When the last winner of the cellphone prizes was called out Ms Murewa covered her face with her hands as it dawned on her that she could be the car winner, while everyone waited for the name of the vehicle winner to be called out.
When her name was called out she walked slowly towards the car, her hands still covering her face and her face streaming with tears. For a few minutes she just stood there, leaning on the car covering her face to hide her tears.
"I never thought I would win something this big," she said.
"I started playing in December after seeing an advert in the newspaper. At that time the competition had already started and I somehow felt I had already been disadvantaged but I started playing all the same.
"When I then received a phone call to say I had won something I asked what I had won and they refused to tell me what it was but ever since I started playing I had always wanted the car so I just hoped it would be a car.
"Now today when the last cellphone winner was called out I knew the car was mine. I suddenly felt weak and felt all strength leave my bones," she said.
She said although she had won the car she would not stop participating in the promotion competition, as she still hoped to win the grand prize of a VW Amarok.
"I want the Amarok now. I hope I am not being greedy but I will keep on playing," she said.
Mercy also said she was glad one of the cars had finally been won by a woman.
"When I saw that the first car had been won by a man I said why do men always win these cars and I am glad today I became the woman to change that.
"I want to thank you all, especially Telecel Zimbabwe. I am so happy I don’t even have any energy.
"Telecel keep it up. I will keep supporting you no matter what. Telecel is a good and cheap network and it offers a credit facility during those times when you are in a difficult situation," she said.
Telecel communications and branding director Obert Mandimika explained that each day there were two cellphone winners who were selected using two criteria. One was a random selection, where a machine just picks a cellphone number and the registered user of that cellphone number becomes the winner. The second winner was selected on the basis of points awarded to those answering promotion questions, with the person with the highest points on that day being selected as the winner.
"If you have won a car it does not mean you are no longer in the running for the big prize. You can win a VW Polo today and a VW Amarok tomorrow. Just keep on playing," he said.
"If you win a cellphone today, this cellphone is state-of-the-art. This phone combined with our data service and the data bundles is a winner. You will realise how good our data service is with this cellphone."
One of the cellphone winners, Caroline Mofolo from Highfield, said she was happy and surprised to have won a cellphone.
"I started playing in this promotion in January but I never expected to win. Some of the answers I got right and others I knew they were wrong but I continued to play.
"I also played in the previous promotion and did not win anything but I did not loose hope. In this one I will keep on playing and I have hope that I will still win a car," she said.
Richard Musvosvi, also from Highfield, who won a cellphone also said he still hoped to win a car. Mr Musvovi could be seen examining the VW Polo that had been won by Ms Murerwa and feeling the tyres. He said he would not give up on the next car.
"I will keep on playing. Mercy (the winner) told me the points that she attained in this draw and how much she spent on this promotion so now I know what to do. I am going to invest in this next car so that I also win," he said.
Telecel human resources and administration director Findros Godzi congratulated all the winners and encouraged those who did not win to keep playing.
"To those who have not yet won, do not lose heart. Keep playing. Everyone is a winner. Your chance is coming soon," he said.
The promotion is entered by sending a blank text message to 33555. A question is then sent to the subscriber with two possible answers to choose from. A return text message advises whether the answer was correct or not and the number of points won. A new question is also sent.
The more questions answered correctly the more points are accumulated and the greater the chance there is of winning the daily prize of a Samsung Galaxy S2, the biweekly prize of a VW Polo and the grand prize of an Amarok VW.
- MHPR Public Relations Consultants
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