The soft-spoken athlete’s date of birth is listed as October 17 1975 which makes him 36-years old, but he said he is five years younger having been born on October 17 1980.
Muzhingi, who has won the Comrades marathon on three consecutive occasions since 2011, said the mistake was made in 1993 when he went with his late mother Siyai to the Registrar General office to take a birth certificate.
“I was late in taking my birth certificate and when my mother was asked my date of birth, she used her fingers to count and the officials at the registrar general’s office took it to be 1975.
“I protested, but was told that only the mother would know the date of birth of his child. “The listed day and month are correct, but the year is very wrong since I was born in 1980,” he said.
Muzhingi said judging by the official records people would think that he is nearing his retirement, but he is still a young man. “I intend to retire at the age of 47 and basing on my actual age, that means I will retire in 2027.
Using the official documents, I will be 52 then. People should not think that I have only four years before reaching the age of 40, as that is not my actual age. Vanhu vachapinda busy munin’ina.
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Vanenge vachigaya kuti vari kumhanya nemudhara apo vachimhanya nemufana,” he said with a chuckle. He added that from next year, he will only be concentrating on three races namely; the Comrades Marathon, Two Oceans Marathon and the New York Marathon.
“I will only participate in three races from next year. My other dream is to win the New York Marathon and I know I will win it one day,” he said.
Muzhingi, who has been on a property buying spree with his latest acquisition being a US$65 000 house in Tynwald said he missed out on the opportunity to join the army in 2002 because of the mistake.
“In 2002 I was regarded as being too old to join the army as they were using the official records. That time I was very disappointed, but it opened another window for me as I would not have bought all the houses that I have.
Right now I own three houses having bought a house after every Comrades success,” he said. Muzhingi however, said he has now realised his dream of joining the army after the Airforce of Zimbabwe invited him three months ago to join them.
“I had always wanted to be in the army. They called me three months ago to join their sports department. I will be a training athlete in the army. Very soon I will be going to collect my force number.”
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