Екінші дүниежүзілік соғысындағы Оңтүстік Африкалық жауынгер Жоб Масеко

Black South African soldier in World War II

Job Maseko (?1922 – 7 March 1952) was a South African soldier during World War II, serving in the Native Military Corps as part of the South African 2nd Infantry Division. He was one of many Allied troops captured by the Axis in the surrender of the port of Tobruk in 1942. He gained fame by his actions in sinking a German vessel with a milk can while serving as a POW stevedore in Tobruk harbour, for which he was awarded the Military Medal.

Before the war, Maseko worked as a miner in Springs, Union of South Africa. After completion of basic training, he was sent to North Africa to join the 2nd South African Division. Part of the prisoners' forced labour involved loading and unloading supplies from German freight ships in the port of Tobruk. With his pre war experience and exposure to explosives, while unloading cargo from a German freight ship in the Tobruk harbour on 21 July 1942, Maseko got three of his fellow prisoners to distract the German guards while he got busy below deck making a bomb using his pre war mining experience. Using ammunition from which he extracted the cordite and a long fuse, Maseko put together an improvised explosive device which he stashed among jerry cans of gasoline in the ship's hold. While he and his fellow prisoners were taking the final load off the ship, Maseko lit the fuse and then left the ship. The next day, the POWs were questioned about smoking while on board ship – to which they answered that cigarettes were forbidden and were not included in any rations, which could not be disputed by their Italian captors. After El Alamein, he was transferred to the 6th South African Armoured Division and was gazetted as a recipient of the Military Medal (MM) for his actions in Tobruk on 11 March 1943. The award was later bestowed on him by Major General Francois Henry "Frank" Theron while in Italy with the armoured division. He attained the rank of lance corporal during his service.

After the war, like many other demobilised soldiers, he gained little recognition in the world of civilian life. In addition, the Apartheid based general rule governing pension awards was that Coloured pension scales should amount to three fifths and African pension scales to two fifths of the rate applicable to whites.

In his honour, the township of KwaThema, near Springs, has a primary school named after him, as is the main road linking Springs to KwaThema. In 1997, the South African Navy renamed the missile attack craft SAS Kobie Coetzee as SAS Job Masego. In 2019, Regiment Noord Transvaal was renamed Job Masego Regiment. It is unclear why the defence force spells his surname as 'Masego' rather than 'Maseko'. In 2007, South African director Vincent Moloi made a documentary about Job Maseko and the South African 2nd Infantry Division called "A Pair of Boots and a Bicycle".