Joe Mamasela (born June 2, 1953) is a former Apartheid government spy and assassin who was involved in the torture and death of many anti-apartheid activists including Griffiths Mxenge.
Mamasela claims he joined the African National Congress in Botswana in 1977, after having been recruited by Snuki Zikalala, but was arrested by security police.
An alternative account provided by journalist Jacques Pauw states that Mamasela became a police informant in 1979 after he had been arrested for housebreaking and theft.
[3] Mamasela publicly confessed to taking part in the abduction and murder of Port Elizabeth activists Sipho Hashe, Qawawuli Godolozi and Champion Galela, known as the Pebco Three, in May 1985.
[3] He was also involved in the killing of youth activists, the Mamelodi Ten, in 1986 and Durban human rights lawyer Griffiths Mxenge.
[3] In return for providing the then Transvaal Attorney-General with the names of former security police members involved in human rights abuses during Apartheid, he was granted indemnity from prosecution.