By Akani Nkuna
Four of a group of 17 South African men have returned home after they were lured abroad with promises of high-paying jobs in Russia, but later found themselves caught up in the war in Ukraine’s Donbas region, where they were forced to fight alongside Russian forces.
The men, who previously sent a distress signal to the South African government saying they were trapped in a war zone, arrived at O.R. Tambo International Airport on Wednesday, where they were met by a strong police presence.
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Police said they had launched an investigation into the alleged recruitment networks and are working to expedite processes linked to the safe return of the remaining men.
Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla, a former UMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party Member of Parliament and daughter of former president Jacob Zuma, is alleged to have facilitated the men’s deployment to the war zone.
Zuma-Sambudla’s half-sister, Nkosazana Zuma-Mncube, filed an affidavit with police in November accusing Zuma-Sambudla and two alleged accomplices of human trafficking and deception.
In the affidavit, she claimed Zuma-Sambudla was personally involved in persuading the men to sign contracts that they believed were for lawful security training in Russia.
Zuma-Sambudla has consistently denied any wrongdoing in public statements, saying she believed the programme was legitimate and not mercenary recruitment.
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In late November, following pressure from opposition parties, Zuma-Sambudla resigned as an MP, saying she needed to prioritise the safe return of the men.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) laid formal criminal charges against her, alleging trafficking into a war zone.
Last week, President Cyril Ramaphosa held a telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin, discussing peace and cooperation efforts between the two countries, including cooperation within organisations such as BRICS and the G20.
In a statement, the South African Presidency said the two leaders pledged support for the process to return the men.
“President Ramaphosa and President Putin pledged their support to the process of returning South Africans fighting alongside Russian forces in Ukraine. In this regard, teams from both sides will continue their engagements towards the finalisation of this process,” the statement read.
The ANC in KwaZulu-Natal has welcomed Ramaphosa’s intervention, saying that the incident should serve as a warning against criminal recruitment networks that exploit vulnerability with false promises of better opportunities abroad.
“It is both chilling and wholly unacceptable that South African citizens could be manipulated and exploited in such a manner, reduced, as reports suggest, to disposable participants in a brutal war not of their making,” the party said.
It also called for those implicated to face the full might of the law.
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“[I]n terms of South Africa’s Foreign Military Assistance Act of 1998, participation in foreign military activity without authorisation is unlawful. This incident must serve as a stark warning against criminal recruitment networks that prey on unemployment, vulnerability, and false promises of opportunity abroad.
It called for “a full investigation into those responsible for recruiting and trafficking South Africans into conflict zones, Stronger public awareness campaigns to prevent further exploitation, and continued diplomatic efforts to secure the return of all remaining South Africans still stranded in the war theatre”.
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