By Poloko Tau
A memorial service will be held in Limpopo for Koko Moloko Temo, who at 134 years was thought to be the world's oldest person.
Efforts to get a claim to her being the world's oldest person recognised by the Guinness World Records were still in progress when she died last Wednesday.
Temo, who has been blind for more than 50 years, would have turned 135 early next month.
According to an identity document issued to her in 1998, she was born on July 4 1874.
Highlights of her life were revealed when she lived her dream of meeting her hero, Nelson Mandela, in September last year.
During their meeting more than a month after Madiba's 90th birthday, Temo sang him a special song she had composed.
And when she voted in the general election, Temo made no secret of who she would vote for, shouting out "Mandela" when asked by an assisting electoral officer.
"One of the proudest moments we remember about her was when she voted in the April general elections. This makes her a democrat at heart and one of the defenders of our freedom," said Limpopo Premier Cassel Mathale.
She was recently presented with a fully furnished house by a local company.
Temo leaves behind her only surviving daughter, 82-year-old Evelyn Mothemane, 29 grandchildren and countless great-grandchildren.
She will be buried on Sunday.