Older than Alex resident dies at 106
ALEXANDRA – The township's oldest living person, Johannes Mdelwa Nkosi has passed on.
Alexandra’s oldest-living person, who was even older than the township itself, Johannes Mdelwa Nkosi (106), has passed on.
Nkosi died peacefully at home on the corner of 11th Avenue and Josias Madzunya Street on 23 August about 4am and was buried at the Marlboro Cemetery on top of his wife, Nomahashi Johanna Nkosi (nee Mkhwanazi), who was born in Vryheid on 22 January 1899 and died in 2008 aged 107.
On his 104th birthday, Nkosi was thrown a lavish celebratory party organised by his long-standing friend and leading philanthropist, Beauty More of Thusong Youth Centre on 22 January 2014.
Born in EmaNgwaneni, Bergville, in KwaZulu-Natal on 22 January 1910, Nkosi first came to Johannesburg in 1931 and lived in Orlando East before moving to Bloemfontein in 1957.
A year later, Nkosi moved to Alexandra and lived in Pan Africa Square which now houses Alexandra’s top shopping mall, the Pan Africa Mall, and was once a vibrant political square which acted as a place of political soul food during the apartheid era.
In 1960, he shared a yard with Nelson Mandela, when the ANC leader first came to Johannesburg after absconding from the Eastern Cape, and a few years down the line, Nkosi moved to his last address in 11th Avenue and Josias Madzunya Street.
When he was asked at one of his many birthday parties about his recipe for longevity, Nkosi, a teetotaller, said it was about avoiding fatty foods and abstaining from western beer. The only beer he drank was the traditional brew of umqombothi, and he used to eat a lot of vegetables while at the same time was fond of black rooibos tea.
Nkosi died in the care of his 67-year-old retired son-in-law, Thabiso Ishmael Mokoena, who is married to Nkosi’s only child, Tholakele Martha Mokoena, from his late wife.
Incidentally, Tholakele was born on 18 July 1957 and shares a birthday with the late former world statesman and iconic South African leader and former President Nelson Mandela, who died on 5 December 2013.
Thusong Youth Centre founder, More, who had always supported Nkosi with food parcels and birthday presents over many years, said old as Nkosi was, she was still devastated by the news of his death. “Nkosi had become part of my extended family which comprises the little children of Alexandra that I look after and provide meals for, discounting many other activities I do for the children,” More said as she tried to put on a brave face.
“I had become so close to the old man as I constantly beat a path to his door with baskets full of groceries and vegetables for him, and occasionally spiced them with blankets and clothes, including his favourite rooibos tea.”
Nkosi first lived in the sprawling township when it was still fondly known as the ‘Dark City’ because of its lack of electricity in those years and, today, it is still regarded as the Dark City as it is one of the poorest urban nodes in the country, although it lies a stone’s throw away from Sandton, the richest square mile in Africa.
Thabiso and Tholakele said they were short of words in their gratitude for the multitudes who came to support them on this ‘dark day in our lives’. “We would like to thank the people of Alexandra for the support, both physically and emotionally, during the wake for our beloved father.”
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