Job Maseko

 Michael - Thursday

The Second World War had many heroes, and we’ve heard about some of them. They were spies, soldiers, prisoners of war, members of the resistance. South African had its own, and almost all those celebrated in the past were white. Now a man who “hates injustice,” Billie Gillespie, in Somerset in England has taken up the case of Job Maseko.

Portrait of Job Maseko

Maseko’s story is an amazing one. Before the war he worked in Johannesburg as what was called a “delivery boy.” When South Africa joined the war, he volunteered, and after basic training was sent to North Africa to join the Second South African Division. He would have been in a support role, because blacks were only allowed that role until much later in the war when manpower shortages forced the authorities to allow them to fight. The only weapons they were allowed were spears when they were on guard duty. Spears. I kid you not.

Present arms?

On the 21st of June 1942, the commander of the second division surrendered the Tobruk Garrison with 32,000 men to Field Marshal Rommel. The garrison included a big chunk of the second division including about 1,200 so-called “Native” Military Corps members, including Job Maseko. The Nazis – never slouches themselves when it came to racial issues – continued the segregation, sending the white prisoners to Europe and keeping the black ones in North Africa as a slave-labor force. They were fed weevil infested biscuits and given a minimal amount of water despite the heat.

Rommel inspects the prisoners at Tobruk

The story goes that on one occasion Rommel inspected the prisoners and asked Maseko if they were being treated fairly. Instead of looking after his skin and lying, Maseko told him the truth. Afterwards he was severely punished.

One of the prisoners' tasks was loading and unloading German freighters at Tobruk harbor. Then one day, a large freighter laden with, among other things, gasoline and ammunition, spectacularly exploded and burnt in the harbor before sinking. As the prisoners had been unloading the ship that day, the Germans were suspicious and roughly questioned them, accusing them of smoking on board. All the prisoners pretended amazement, humbly pointing out that no cigarettes were included in the rations provided. In never occurred to their captors that the black prisoners could be capable of the sophistication required to deliberately destroy a ship, and that was just as well or Maseko’s story would have ended right there and probably never been told.

Maseko had learnt something about explosives towards the fall of Tobruk. Three other prisoners distracted the guards while in the hold he used some ammunition to construct a homemade bomb packed in an empty condensed milk can. He lit a long fuse as the unloading finished, and the ship exploded as the men were being returned to their camp.

El-Alamein

But that wasn’t the end of the story. Somehow, he managed to escape from the camp and trek across the desert to join Montgomery’s forces at El-Alamein. (Apparently, he repaired a broken German radio to get the news of the victories there.) He continued to fight the Germans until the end of the war, and was promoted to lance corporal. 

Apparently, the British officers for whom he fought after Tobruk, recommended him for the Victoria Cross for his bravery at Tobruk, which would certainly have cost him his life if he’d been caught. However, the idea of a black man receiving the Victoria Cross didn’t sit well with the South African senior officers and the recommendation was downgraded to a military medal. He returned to South Africa with a much smaller pension than his white counterparts and returned to menial work. In 1952, he was killed when hit by a train at a crossing. By that time, he had hardly any money. Donations paid for his funeral.

A documentary was made about him, and you can view a short trailer HERE.

The new South Africa has named a school after him, and a frigate. But now an Englishman who “hates injustice” has started a petition to reverse the original injustice with the award of a posthumous Victoria Cross. I certainly hope he has success.

Bill Gillespie with Maseko