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