‘World’s oldest woman’ dies aged 128: South African great-grandmother passes away from ‘stroke’

A woman said to be the world’s oldest person has died in South Africa at the age of 128 after having lived through three different centuries.

Johanna Mazibuko, a mother of seven children, died at her home in Jouberton, North West Province, on March 3, and would have turned 129 in May, according to local reports.

His relatives said that he had identity documents proving that he was born on May 11, 1894 and grew up on a corn farm. She never went to school and she couldn’t read or write, they said.

Speaking to News24, her caretaker and daughter-in-law, Thandiwe Wesinyana, said Mazibuko may have died of a stroke.

Mazibuko told the publication on her 128th birthday: “I’m amazed why I’m still here after so many years.” Why am I still here? People around me have been dying.

‘When am I going to die? What’s the point of being alive? The world has made me tired because I am sitting here doing nothing,” she said.

Mazibuko will be buried on Saturday in Jouberton, Klerksdorp

She was one of 12 siblings of whom three youngest are still alive.

Illiterate, she told News24: ‘We lived very well on the farms. So there were no problems. I don’t remember my childhood well, but I do remember a plague of locusts.

There were some that we could catch and eat. It was like you were eating meat. We fry them and eat them alone.

‘I grew up healthy eating mostly fresh milk and wild spinach. Now I eat modern food. I’m used to it, but I miss the food I grew up with.’

He married an old widow, Stawana Mazibuko, but he can’t remember when. He said that his first wife had died and that he had cows and that she made butter.

Johanna said, ‘He made sure I wasn’t missing anything.’

They had 7 children, two of whom are still living, and he has over 50 grandchildren and great-grandchildren and is being mourned in South Africa.

Mazibuko survived both world wars and two global pandemics (Covid-19 and the Spanish flu). He lived during the reign of Queen Victoria in Britain, the first flight of the Wright brothers, and the first Russian revolution.

Carer Thandiwe said she took her to hospital on February 14 and she was treated for a stroke and was released on February 28.

She died at her home three days later and will be buried on Saturday in Jouberton.

Mazibuko (pictured) told the publication on her 128th birthday: “I’m amazed why I’m still here after so many years.” Why am I still here? People around me have been dying’

His relatives said that he had identity documents proving that he was born on May 11, 1894 and grew up on a corn farm. He never went to school and could not read or write, they said

Thandiwe told News24: ‘We loved praying together and spent most of our days drinking tea and talking. I don’t know who I’m going to have fun with anymore.

‘A wound has opened, my heart aches and I am shattered. The community is saddened. We have all lost a mother,’ she said.

Officially, the world’s oldest person is a 115-year-old woman born in San Francisco. She received the title after the 118-year-old French nun Sister André died in early 2023.

At the time of her birth, María Branyas Morera -confirmed by Guinness World Records as the oldest person – was suffering from a second wave of bubonic plague. She is now considered a ‘supercentenarian’, a title given to people once they reach the age of 110.

Morera, who has three children, 11 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren, attributes her old age to “order, tranquility” and “getting away from toxic people.”

And despite her age, she is active on social media and frequently posts on Twitter with the help of her daughter. She is also a great pianist.

Both Morera and Sister André survived a bout of covid-19, making them the two oldest people known to have survived the deadly virus.

In 2021, an Eritrean man who died in September of that year was claimed to be 127 years old. Natabay Tinsiew’s family claimed local records showed he was born in 1894 and said he was present when his village celebrated his 120th birthday in 2014.

The oldest living person verified by Guinness was Frenchwoman Jeanne Louise Calment, who died at 122 years and 164 days in 1997.

Most centenarians (a person who has reached the age of 100) are found in the so-called blue zones of the world, where people live longer than average, such as Okinawa in Japan or the Italian island of Sardinia.

San Francisco-born Maria Branyas officially became the world’s oldest person at 115 earlier this year, after the death of a French nun named Sister André.

Marero became the world’s oldest living person after the death of French nun Sister André (pictured) earlier this month. Both survived a Covid-19 attack

In 2021, an Eritrean man who died in September of that year was claimed to be 127 years old. Natabay Tinsiew’s family (pictured) claimed that local records showed he was born in 1894.

But France, while not considered a blue zone, has 30,000 centenarians, according to the Insee statistics institute, with around 40 of them aged 110 or older.

Last year, Brazilian officials claimed to have found a 121-year-old woman living in a small town in the state of Bahia.

The woman, named Maria Gomes dos Reis, could have been born on June 16, 1900, making her the oldest person in the world.

This has yet to be confirmed, however, as his family must pay 4,000 Brazilian reais, around £640, and provide legal documents proving his age to Guinness World Records.

WORLD EVENTS THAT WOULD HAVE EXPERIENCED

Johanna Mazibuko, a mother of seven children, died at her home in Jouberton, North West Province, on March 3, and would have turned 129 in May, according to reports.

People close to her claim that she had identity papers proving she was born on May 11, 1894. From the Wright brothers’ first flight, World War I and World War II, the fall of the Berlin Wall to September 11, the Covid-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Mazibuko has seen it all.

1894: Identity documents show that Johanna Mazibuko was born in South Africa

1897: Greco-Turkish War

1901: Formation of the Commonwealth of Australia, Queen Victoria dies

1903: The Wright Brothers make the first flight, Suffragettes in Great Britain and Northern Ireland

The Wright brothers make their first flight in December 1903.

1905: First Russian Revolution

1914: World War I begins

1917: Russian revolution leads to communism

1918: World War I ends, Spanish flu pandemic kills millions

1921: Rise of the Chinese Communists

1924: Russia passes from Lenin to Stalin

1927: Lindbergh non-stop flight to Paris

1934: Hitler consolidates power in Germany

1939: World War II begins

1941: The Holocaust begins

Troops of the 48th Royal Marines at Saint-Aubin-sur-mer on Juno Beach, Normandy, France, during the D-Day landings, June 6, 1944

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1947: India obtiene la independencia

1948: nacimiento de Israel

1949: fundación de la OTAN

1950: Comienza la Guerra de Corea

1952: Isabel II coronada en Gran Bretaña, primera prueba de bomba de hidrógeno

1953: El descubrimiento del ADN

1955: Rosa Parks impulsa el movimiento por los derechos civiles, comienza la guerra de Vietnam

1958: Estados Unidos lanza el primer satélite

1959: Castro se apodera de Cuba

1961: se construye el Muro de Berlín

1962: Crisis de los misiles cubanos

1963: JFK asesinado en Texas

1966: Mao purga a sus rivales

1967: Guerra de los Seis Días

1968: Martin Luther King asesinado

1969: Alunizaje

El alunizaje en 1969

1975: Saigon Falls, termina la guerra de Vietnam

1976: El Concorde cambia los viajes aéreos

1977: El auge de la PC

1979: Nace la República Islámica en Irán

1983: Nace Internet

1989: Cae el Muro de Berlín

1991: Estados Unidos va a la guerra en Oriente Medio, se deroga la legislación del Apartheid

1992: Termina la Guerra Fría, desintegración de Yugoslavia

1993: La UE se hace realidad con el tratado

1994: genocidio de Ruanda

1999: primer ataque independiente de la OTAN en Kosovo

2000: Se abre la Estación Espacial Internacional

2001: ataques terroristas del 11 de septiembre en Nueva York, Estados Unidos invade Afganistán

El humo sale de las torres gemelas del World Trade Center después de que fueron golpeados por dos aviones secuestrados en un ataque terrorista el 11 de septiembre de 2001 en la ciudad de Nueva York.

2003: Estados Unidos invade Irak

2004: Boxing Day Tsunami, se funda Facebook

2007: Se lanza el iPhone

2008: Dow se hunde, colapso económico mundial

2012: Se descubre (probablemente) la ‘partícula de Dios’

2016: Trump elegido, Gran Bretaña vota para abandonar la UE

2019: protestas en Hong Kong

2020: pandemia mundial de COVID-19

2022: Rusia invade Ucrania

2023: Johanna Mazibuko muere ‘a los 128 años’ según sus allegados