He was born in South Africa and had documents proving he lived in the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries before passing away at the age of 129
Johanna Mazibuko was born on May 11, 1894. Since then, she lived through two world wars, two pandemics, the Russian and Cuban revolutions, apartheid, the Great Depression, the arrival of man on the moon and the fall of the Berlin Wall, among many other historical events. Johanna lived through three different centuries and passed away in South Africa at the age of 129. She was the oldest known living person in the world.
This South African woman possessed documents proving her birth in the 19th century. She could neither read nor write, as she never went to school, but she did not need to in order to become a strong woman. Her daughter-in-law, Thandiwe Wesinyana, has confirmed that Johanna passed away on March 3, believed to have suffered a stroke, which has caused her community to mourn: “We have all lost a mother“.
Last week in South Africa, the oldest woman in the world celebrated her 128th birthday. Born in 1894, Johanna Mazibuko has lived through British colonialism, apartheid and two world wars. pic.twitter.com/ijlQhQYQE2
In statements collected by The Sun, the daughter-in-law recognizes that with Johanna goes an important part of her life: “We loved to pray together and we 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 been opened, my heart aches and I am heartbroken. The community is saddened.”
No Guinness recognition
This elderly South African woman had been thinking for years that it was time for her to die and, in fact, she assured her family and friends that she did not understand her longevity: “Why am I still here? People around me have been passing away. When will I die? What is the point of being alive? The world has tired me out because I'm sitting here doing nothing“.
Mazibuko had 11 siblings, three of whom are still alive. She married an elderly widower, Stawana Mazibuko, and they amassed seven children together and more than 50 grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She recently admitted that she missed the maize farm she grew up on and the food she ate as a child because “there were no problems then” and the food tasted better.
However, despite the documentation Johanna Mazibuko claimed to possess, she was never recognized as the world's oldest person by the Guinness Book of World Records. That honor goes to Maria Branyas Morera, a woman born in the United States but who has lived all her life in Spain and was born on March 4, 1907, which means she has just turned 116 years old.
