Online Reporter
Maria Chiguvari
JUST days after H-Metro published a story in which a 122-year-old man revealed that his application to secure funeral cover was rejected by four firms in South Africa and Zimbabwe, the centenarian’s prayers have been answered.
South Africa-based Zimbabwean company, Zororo-Phumulani, have undertaken to help Sekuru Anulois Banda, who could be the oldest man alive in the world today.
The company has registered him on its portfolio of clients free of charge and has also offered to buy him a wheelchair as well as provide monthly groceries, starting this month-end.
A Zororo-Phumulani representative yesterday told H-Metro that the company was taken aback by Sekuru Banda’s plight when it was published in H-Metro.
“As Zororo-Phumulani, we are not only there to chip in during death but we also do the same in life. We will celebrate the centenarian every day,” said the company’s Executive Marketing Manager Tendai Mangot.
“For now, we will buy him a wheelchair and we will also buy him groceries every month.”
Sekuru Banda’s family said they were grateful to Zororo-Phumulani.
“Sekuru Banda’s family is deeply grateful to Zororo-Phumalani for their selfless offer to help him secure funeral cover,” said Judith Maphosa, Sekuru Banda’s daughter-in-law.
“We’re relieved and thankful for their kindness and support during this challenging time.”
At 122, Sekuru Banda has lived a life full of experiences, wisdom, and love.
His ID card shows that he was born on December 12, 1903, in Tukuyu, on the border between Malawi and Tanzania.
If verified, he could even enter the Guinness World Records as the oldest living person ever.
The world’s oldest confirmed person, Ethel Caterham of the UK, is a sprightly 115 – and she swears the secret is “never arguing with anyone.”
In the Guinness World Records, the title of the oldest person ever recorded is held by Jeanne Louise Calment.
She was born in France on February 21, 1875, and lived until August 4, 1997, when she died at the age of 122 years and 164 days.
Sekuru Banda says he moved to then-Rhodesia in the 1920s and has outlived the colonial era, the two World Wars and the pandemics which struck the globe.
However, his family revealed that week that it was struggling to secure funeral cover for him.
Sekuru Banda’s daughter, Mrs Maphosa, said four funeral insurance providers rejected him because he’s “too old” and a “high risk” client.
“My daughter in South Africa tried to register uKhulu with two Zimbabwean-run funeral policy companies there. They said, ‘he’s too old, he might die anytime,’ said his daughter-in-law, Mrs Judith Maphosa.
“Just like that. Cold and clinical.”
Undeterred, the family tried their luck with two more service providers here in Zimbabwe, only to hit the same wall.
“We know he won’t live forever,” Mrs Maphosa said. “But it’s cruel to treat him like he’s expired milk. He’s a human being who deserves dignity, even in death.”
