128 and Counting...

Johanna Mazibuko from Klerksdorp might get into the record books as the oldest living person

- By Jacques Myburgh

LIVING near Klerksdorp is a woman who belongs to one of the most exclusive clubs in the world. No amount of money, fame or power can get you in - only great genes.

Johanna Mazibuko is a supercentenarian, making her one of only about 300 000 out of the 7,8 billion people on Earth who has lived past the age of 110.

Having recently celebrated her 128th birthday, Johanna may well be the oldest person on the planet.

The Guinness World record for the longest-living person on record is held by Frenchwoman Jeanne Louise Calment, who died at the age of 122, in 1997.

The oldest verified living person, according to Guinness World Records in April, is also a Frenchwoman who is also the world's oldest living nun, Sister André. She was born Lucile Randon and is 118 years old.

But if people in Johanna's camp have their way, Sister André may well be toppled from her impressive perch.

The Adopt an Elderly campaign - which is run by a local church in Mahikeng in the North West to get recognition for the elderly and to record stories of their lives in pre-1994 South Africa has launched a bid for Johanna to be recognized as the world's oldest person by the famous keepers of all records great and small and everything in between.

It would make Johanna and her family happy if the evidence they're presenting is accepted - including the smart ID card that shows the date of her birth as 11 May 1894.

Johanna has outlived five of her seven children and has 50 great-grandchildren. She's lived in three centuries, through colonialism, apartheid, world wars, and the invention of cars, television, space travel, and cellphones.

She recently celebrated her birthday and the number 128 floats on foil balloons in the living room of her home in Jouberton just outside Klerksdorp.