Looking forward to his 106th Christmas

Far away in the hills of Wewe in Upper Tongaat, you will find Joqo Chauque who is 105 years old and still going strong.

He came to South Africa from Mozambique as a child and at the age of 14, started working as a cattle herder on a sugar cane farm at Compensation.

Chauque stayed on as a cane worker and his employer promoted him to induna (supervisor) before he retired 40 years ago.

“All my life I worked for Mr Hulett and my biggest pay was R4 and my starting salary was 10 cents a month,” said Chauque.

He said he never got to touch a R50 note until he started to get his old age pension.

“Life was very easy at that time. I did not need much money because my Mlungu used to feed us and provide accommodation. He even paid lobola for my wife. That is how I ended up staying here in Upper Tongaat.”

He said he saved money and built a house at Driefontein, then his wife said they should go and stay in upper Tongaat.

“My wife took me to Chief Ngcobo, who gave me the land to built my house and introduced me to the men around this place. Although I cannot remember when that was, I do remember that I never felt or was treated as a foreigner. People in this area had always been kind to me.”

He said people used to have respect and treated each other with dignity but he will never forget the cruelty of the apartheid government.

“They used to beat us up and humiliate us but we managed to be strong and survived. Now you, young people, are free and you should embrace that and use it to your advantage. Trust me, being black was the most horrible thing in the past.”

While he drinks a little and does not smoke, Chaque does not know why he has managed to live so long.

“I don’t do anything special, I just live my life,” Chauque said he still finds it difficult to come to terms with the way he resigned from his job.

“I went to my employer and said, I am tired now and he said it was fine, go home and rest. That was it. All these years I spent working, I ended up going home with nothing. I wish I could have got something, even if he had built a decent a house for me.”

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