Safe to say Johanna enjoyed a happy marriage and family life. She spent most of her life as a domestic worker for farm owners and satisfactorily served diligently. She is a proud elder of 50 grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Having lived through the racial period of apartheid, the South African native said she will never forget voting in the first democratic elections in 1994. “Mandela was my person. He allowed us to control ourselves. He got us houses and made the government give us pensions,” she relieved her memories of the South African revolutionary to News 24.

Mama Mazibuko has a difficulty in hearing at the moment but can still see. Assisted by a frame, she can still navigate her way around home. “My body is stiff. When I walk, I walk like a child. When people are walking up and down the streets, I just watch through my window and wish I could be like them.”

Johanna’s caregiver Thandiwe Wesinyana has lived with her since 2001. Thandiwe Wesinyana, said, “I can’t sleep when I am not next to her. When I come back, she will also say she couldn’t sleep. She says she just sits by the window looking at the gate and wondering when I will be back.”

Mazibuko credits her health to fresh milk and wild spinach. She also fed on locust. “Now, I eat modern food. I am used to it, but I do miss the food I grew up on,” she said.

Johanna Mazibuko is not too sure on why she has reached such an advanced age, surpassing generations. Her request when she passes away is that “they must slaughter a cow for her and bury her well so that she will never bother people.”