Cape Town - In a few days’ time, Fredie Blom of Delft will be celebrating his 114 birthday - but his family says he has yet to be recognised by local government.
Fredie is the oldest man in the world - Guinness World Records certified 112-year-old Masazo Nonaka of northern Japan as the world’s oldest man earlier this month.
Fredie will be celebrating his 114th birthday on 8 May, and his wife, Jeanette Blom, 85, says she’s sad her husband has not been honoured by government officials yet.
The gardener, who has no children of his own, was born in Adelaide in the Eastern Cape in 1904, according to his bar-coded identity document.
“I want to see who is going to say something or honour him because how many people do you find that has reached 114 years?” says Jeanette.
Fredie has been featured in the Daily Voice since the age of 110.
Video: Tracey Adams/ANA
On Thursday, we heard that he is healthy and still manages to walk around on his own, and recently assisted a neighbour with making a concrete floor in their courtyard.
The centenarian says he can’t believe he’s made it so far in life.
“I am 114. I was born in 1904,” he says in Afrikaans.
“Ek kan nie glo dat ek so lank lewe nie. Ek is goed (healthy), maar my bene is klaar (I can't believe that I have lived for so long. I am healthy, but have problems with my legs).”
The centenarian recently assisted a neighbour with making a concrete floor in their courtyard. Picture: Tracey Adams/ANA
Jeanette says Fredie still smokes tobacco regularly.
She adds they only receive pension and can’t afford a party or even to bake a birthday cake.