João dos Santos Albasini, also named in Ronga as Nwandzengele, (November 2, 1876 – August 15, 1922) was an influential Mozambican journalist, writer, and political activist who advocated for the rights of indigenous Africans under Portuguese colonial rule in Lourenço Marques (modern-day Maputo).

[4][5] João dos Santos Albasini's mother was the granddaughter of the Rongan Chief of the Maxaquene clan of Ka-Mfumo (the Ronga territory that is now present-day Maputo), and held many names such as Facaxanam, Secaxane, Kocuene Mpfumo, and Joaquina Correia d'Oliveira.

[6][4] In 1897, João Albasini married Bertha Carolina Heitor (Nwana-wa-tilu in Ronga) in Lourenço Marques, and they had two children, Beatriz (Minyembeti) and Carlos Eduardo.

[4] Their marriage, however, would end in divorce in 1916, and Albasini moved his attentions to Michaela Laforte, to whom he wrote many love letters now preserved in Livro da Dor ("Book of Pain").

[5][8][3] As the editor of O Brado Africano, he openly attacked the "Shibalo Laws" which required every African adult male to work 6 months of the year on settlers' plantations, regarding it as a practice of slavery.

[1][11][8] This allowed the publications to become popular amongst the native population in southern Mozambique, being accessible to the many African laborers along the developing infrastructure stretching from Laurenço Marques to the Transvaal in South Africa.

[9][3] O Africano strongly condemned the Portuguese laws of exception which drew distinctions in citizenship between brancos ("white settlers"), indígenas ("natives"), and assimilados ("assimilated Africans").

[4] In 1919, shortly before travelling to Lisbon to treat his medical needs, Albasini wrote a series of articles for O Combate, the paper of the Portuguese Socialist Party.

[6] Reportedly, his funeral was attended by an estimated 5,000 people, among whom were both Portuguese colonial officials and the Queen Sibebe of the Maxaquene clan, Albasini's maternal cousin.

[3] A year after his death, the Escola João Albasini, a vocational school for African women, opened its doors with classes in literacy, sewing, and cooking.