For those readers who are sticklers for getting the facts straight, a mistake will appear in the Newcastle Advertiser tomorrow.
In an article about a 135-year-old woman who cast her vote on May 7, a miscalculation was not noted in some of the dates provided.
One section of the article reads: ‘Ms Dlamini’s family claims she is much older than her ID indicates. According to her green ID book she is 111 years old, which would mean she was born the same year as her firstborn son, in 1928.’
This is, in hindsight, impossible. If Ms Dlamini had been born in 1928, she would be 86 years old.
Many thanks to Ulrich Botha, one of our Facebook readers, who noticed the mistake and commented, alerting the Advertiser team to this rather critical error.
“Lol The maths here has gone a little awry!!! If her son was born in 1928 he would be 86 not 111!?” (sic) read the comment.
Having not double-checked, this journalist apologises for the mistake, and promises to buy a shiny new calculator for future use.
If nothing, this proves only that mistakes do happen, and it is important to take responsibility for your own mistakes.
We are only human, after all.
