Centenarian celebrates birthday

Sibongile Ndiweni and Clementine Phulu, Sunday News Reporters

LONGEVITY is largely seen as a virtue; it is a celebrated accomplishment that many people strive for but few have really attained. 

It seems to be the domain of a chosen few, and people who live a long time are often respected by society. They get honoured in many different ways. Nearly everywhere, life expectancy is considerably less than 100 years, and people who reach that age become unique and remarkable members of society, whose stories are frequently featured in the media and attract a lot of attention.

Yesterday, the Mabhena family and friends came together in one of Bulawayo’ suburbs, Lobengula West, to celebrate the long life of Gogo Lydia Mabhena who turned 100 years old. The centenarian, who has been blessed to see five of her generations, has five children, 17 grandchildren, 23 great grandchildren and one great-great grandchild. In an interview with Sunday News, Gogo Mabhena said her secret to a long life has been obedience as well as keeping a clean heart in the face of the Lord. 

“I grew up under the Seventh Day Adventist Church, a church where rules are followed and where one is guided by certain values throughout. Growing up we used to respect our parents that is why I’m referring to our generation as a generation which came from Egypt, but today’s generation is a bit different from our generation that is why I’m saying it’s a generation from Canaan because they portray various bad behaviours which is something that never existed in our generation. I’m encouraging this new generation to depart from doing bad things hiding under the comfort ‘everyone else is doing it so I should too’ and be well-mannered children with respect and discipline. That’s what will make them live a long life,” she said.

Born in a family of seven, the centenarian who is the fifth child of Nyokembi Mabhena and MaMnkandla was married to Basikiti Mwale in 1948. Later she moved to Zambia to seek opportunities where she ended up taking care of a lot of freedom fighters. 

Cde Cain Mathema was one such freedom fighter who stayed in the house of Gogo Mabhena when they were out of the country since her house was the “telecommunications centre”. Beauty Gumbo-Mpofu who is the third born to Lydia Mabhena said she believed her mother should be recognised as one of the heroines that fought during the liberation war because she housed the likes of Cde Nikita Mangena who was commander of ZPRA, the Zapu military wing and other commanders for private meetings in Zambia.

“My mother had exposure to a lot of Zapu people as they used to come for Christmas at her house and the only place these people could call home when they were out of Zimbabwe was my mother’s home. She could have died long back but the Rhodesian forces failed to locate that the telecommunications centre was my mother’s home, and they did not bomb the place,” she said.