Johnstone Mfanafuthi Makatini (8 February 1932 – 3 December 1988), also spelled Makathini or Makhathini, was a South African politician and anti-apartheid activist.

[1] In 1962, Makatini was among the first group of Natal activists who volunteered to join the ANC's exile mission and receive military training with Umkhonto we Sizwe.

After his training, he remained at the exile mission to receive subsequent groups of recruits,[1] and in 1963, he was elected to the ANC's National Executive Committee for the first time.

[1] In April 2007, he was posthumously awarded the Order of Luthuli in silver by Thabo Mbeki, the second post-apartheid president,[6] for "His excellent contribution to the cause of freedom".

[7] He married Valerie O'Conner Makatini, a Jamaican student at Howard University whom he met at the airport in Washington D.C. while he was stationed in New York.