Online Reporter
Raymond Jaravaza
HE’S SEEN IT ALL — FROM COLONIAL RULE TO INDEPENDENT ZIMBABWE — AND HE’S STILL GOING STRONG AT 122!
Two Cabinet Ministers dropped everything on Friday to honour Anuloisa Banda, the 122-year-old living legend of Bulilima, with a special visit to his Ntunungwe village homestead in Ward 17, Matabeleland South.
Ministers Edgar Moyo (Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare) and Nqobizitha Mangaliso Ndlovu (Industry and Commerce) came bearing gifts, a brand-new bed, two wheelchairs, and groceries in a moment that touched hearts across the nation.
Born in 1903 in Tukuyu village near the Malawi-Tanzania border, Khulu Banda left home at 18 to chase work in Tanzania before trekking down to Southern Rhodesia, where he spent decades toiling in the mines of Mhangura, Shamva and Shabanie.
He found love in Filabusi, marrying the late Xotshiwe Maphosa, and settled in Bulilima in the 1950s. The couple raised five children, though only two survive. UKhulu Banda now lives with his daughter-in-law, Judith Maphosa, along with grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
UKhulu Banda became a national talking point after B-Metro exposed his family’s struggle to secure funeral cover, with four insurance firms refusing to register him due to his advanced age.
But the nation stood up.
Zororo/Phumulani came through, offering free funeral cover, and now government ministers have joined the chorus of appreciation for this living piece of history.
While he couldn’t make it in person, Matabeleland South Minister Albert Nguluvhe pledged to drill a borehole at the Banda homestead.
From dusty mine shafts to humble village life, Khulu Banda has weathered it all and now the country is giving him his flowers while he’s still here to smell them.
