DELFT-(MaraviPost)-South African man who survived two world wars and apartheid has died at his home in Delft on Saturday three months after celebrating his 116th birthday.
Western Cape community development officer Gadija Francis confirmed the news in a statement.
Born 1904 in the rural town of Adelaide , Fredie Blom was older than a 112-year-old British resident named the world’s oldest living man by the Guinness World Records.
In recent interview with Al jazeera, Blom explained that he lost his sister during the Spanish flu pandemic more than 100 years ago.
Before his demise, Blom spent most of his life working on farms around Cape Town and he attributed his longevity to decades of work in construction, along with walking and cycling to work.
He married his 86-year-old wife Jeanette and adopted Jeanette’s two from a previous marriage as his own and the couple had been together for almost 50 years.
In an interview with AFP news agency before his birthday, Blom disclosed that his only birthday wish this year was a cigarette.
He criticized South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa on nationwide ban on cigarette sales as part of a series of lockdown measures.
Blom reportedly stopped visiting doctors more than two years ago claiming he was tired of being pricked and prodded and his death has been attributed to natural causes.
