A 109 year-old man enjoys his long life in Patensie

Breaking… -By Bev Mortimer-

In the tiny village and farming area of Patensie in the Eastern Cape, an elderly resident, Poto Dyantyisi, celebrated his 109th birthday recently!

He is fit and well, still with a great memory and is on his way to be a super-centenarian next year!

Though his long-life is worth celebrating , he is, however, not the oldest person in South Africa,. There is a woman in the Northwest Province, Johanna Mazibuko who last year in May celebrated her 128th birthday!

He has had an interesting life and the municipal district of Sarah Baartman was so proud of his longevity achievement that officials organised a special birthday party for him last month!

Poto was born and bred in Stutterheim in the Eastern Cape on 4 April 1914 . He grew up there till he was a young man.

He never went to school because he had to look after his father’s cattle during those early years of his life. He later went to Johannesburg to work at the mines .

In 1951 he met a woman from Stutterheim and took her for his wife. She stayed on in Stutterheim while he worked in the mines and returned to visit. He and his wife were blessed with nine children – 5 boys and 4 girls.

In 1960 the Dyantyisi family was moved by a farmer called Charles Tyrrell from Stutterheim to Patensie and Poto worked on his farm till 1993 when the Tyrrell family sold the farm to Kobus Bezuidenhout and he continued to work on that farm.

In 1998, he got too old to work and had to retire. His wife passed away in 2005 and the family has had to look after him since.

Asked about his lifestyle and outlook on life, his grandson Joseph, says he likes to keep and eat healthily. He likes to walk around the yard for fitness but uses crutches now. He eats veges, and fruit and drinks only water..

He also says when you have peace inside of you, you’ll have a healthy body. He does not smoke or drink any alcohol and he’s a strong Christian believer.

Poto loves to talk about the old days, but cannot remember the names of most of the people from his younger years. Joseph adds that he has a strong and excellent memory and most of the time he has positive conversations.