'World's oldest person' found in South Africa (BBC) {not confirmed}

[eppur_se_muova]

At 119 years old Johanna Mazibuko, who lives in small town south-west of Johannesburg, could be the world's oldest person.

Ms Mazibuko was born in 1894, according to her identity papers, and has outlived five of her seven children.

"God gave my life in abundance, plus a bonus. I am very old now," she told South Africa's Sowetan newspaper.

According to Guinness World Records, the oldest living person is Misao Okawa, from Japan, who is 115.

Ms Mazibuko shares her house in Klerksdorp, which is about 160km (100 miles) south-west of Johannesburg, with her 77-year-old son, Tseko Mazibuko, who is also a pensioner.
***
more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-23453597

[ornotna]

1. She looks great

Hope I'm in as good shape as she is 20 years from now. And no, I won't be any where near 100.

[TacoD]

4. 119, and doesn't look a day over 97! (nt)

[GeorgeGist]

2. Not even close?

Is this the oldest person in the world? Kashmiri man claims he is 141 making him 60 years older than his wife

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2372479/Is-oldest-person-world-Kashmiri-man-claims-141-making-60-years-older-wife.html#ixzz2aA7rzfer

[eppur_se_muova]

6. In cases like this, there are doubts as to whether they have taken their parent's ID ...

back in the 70s and 80s there was a lot of publicity surrounding the large number of purported supercentenarians living in the Republic of Georgia (then Georgia SSR). But ...

Deaths officially reported in Russia in 1815 listed 1068 centenarians, including 246 supercentenarians (50 at age 120–155 and one even older).[31] Time magazine considered that, by the Soviet Union, longevity had elevated to a state-supported "Methuselah cult".[58] The USSR insisted on its citizens' unrivaled longevity by claiming 592 people (224 male, 368 female) over age 120 in a 15 January 1959 census[59] and 100 citizens of Russia alone ages 120 to 156 in March 1960.[60] Such later claims were fostered by Georgian-born Joseph Stalin's apparent hope that he would live long past 70.[58] Zhores A. Medvedev, who demonstrated that all 500-plus claims failed birth-record validation and other tests,[58] said Stalin "liked the idea that [other] Georgians lived to be 100".[60]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longevity_myths

I read elsewhere that many of these claims of extreme old age were a result of the practice of people choosing to adopt their parent's, or even grandparent's, ID after the elder's death -- thus collecting their pension checks, or establishing themselves as too old for military service. With registration of births and other accurate civil records being a relatively recent phenomenon, many claims of extreme old age are simply unverifiable, and most are dubious. Wiki lists tons of claimed supercentenarians.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longevity_claims

http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insightb/articles/eav041610a.shtml

I note that this SA woman has a son born when she was 42. Certainly not impossible, but it raises the possibility that this is really a grandson.

[SheilaT]

7. I just want to add my voice to what you've said.

Almost all supposed super old people aren't all that old.

I also read that the people in Soviet Georgia claiming longevity had all added thirty or forty years to their ages at some point many years before to avoid being drafted, possibly into WWI, but perhaps some other war.

I can also recall in the late 50's and early 60's some man who was claiming to have been born a slave and was now well over 100. And I recall that about two years later another story surfaced about him and he was suddenly about 8 years older than he'd been two years earlier. So simple human fallibility and willingness to gull others is also a factor.

[KittyWampus]

3. REcommend because I find this interesting.

[yellowcanine]

5. Was she lost? Did her family think she was lost? If not, how is she "found?"

Just sayin'.