The Sunday Mail
Leroy Dzenga
Senior Reporter
SEKURU Joseph Mapuranga has lived through different historical epochs.
He was only six, in 1923, when the administration of then Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) was transferred from the British South Africa Company to the Responsible Government Association led by Sir Charles Coghlan.
He has lived to see the Unilateral Declaration of Independence of 1965, Zimbabwe’s independence in 1980, the birth of the Second Republic in 2017, and is still going strong.
At 105, his memory is still sharp.
Born on February 17, 1917, Sekuru Mapuranga effortlessly recalls the days he grew up in rural Bikita. However, Father Time is taking a toll on him.
“I wake up every day at 3am to pray. This is something I started when I was a young boy and have not skipped a day until today,” he told The Sunday Mail.
A devout Catholic, Sekuru Mapuranga stopped going to church three years ago because he could no longer walk to the place of worship on his own. However, this has failed to separate him from God.
“Once every two weeks, our Father (a Catholic priest) comes to pray for me and hold mass, as I am no longer able to go to church on my own,” he said.
The first-born in a family of three, Sekuru Mapuranga has outlived both his siblings and age-mates.
“I don’t have friends; I am usually alone, unless on days when we have a family get-together. My daughter here takes care of me. I don’t take medication for anything, I just eat my food and drink water, that’s it. My whole life I have never been diagnosed with any chronic condition. I thank God for that.”
Asked what his secret to a long and healthy life is, he said he has never given special attention to the food he eats.
“I never had a special diet. I just ate what would have been cooked. Up to now, I eat what has been cooked, although I am no longer able to eat as much as I used to,” he said.
He has been a teetotaller all his life and has steered clear of smoking, although there were temptations during his school days at Silveira Mission and Chikore Mission in Chipinge.
After qualifying as a carpenter, he worked in Gweru, where he has lived until now.
“We built Gweru. I roofed many houses. I roofed the building that used to house Standard Chartered Bank,” said Sekuru Mapuranga, who has a home in Mkoba 2.
He has seven children, nine grandchildren and some great-grandchildren.
“I don’t take for granted that God has kept me for this long. It is a blessing that I am thankful of and I acknowledge that every day when I pray.”
On some days, when conversations fail him, he sings a song that has become familiar with those who spend time around him.
The hymn “Garai neni nokusingaperi” has become an extension of his personality.
And it appears the Lord has been with him every step of the way.
Sekuru Mapuranga lost his first wife many years ago and remarried in 1962.
His second wife died in January this year.
The centenarian’s family congregates around him on regular occasions to celebrate a life well-lived.
