‘Outright evil:’ anguish and anger over South Africans tricked into fighting for Russia

Original article by Rachel Savage in Johannesburg and Pjotr Sauer

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Mary hasn’t heard from her son since 27 August, when he told her he was worried he was being sent to the frontlines of Russia’s war with Ukraine. Since then she has been ill with worry.

“I’m honestly really sick,” she said, exhaustion in her voice. “I get anxiety attacks, I’m in and out of hospital, palpitations. It’s just a whole lot. Headaches, I’m dizzy all the time. It’s not easy for me.”

Her son was part of a group of 17 South African and two Botswanan men who, according to multiple lawsuits, were tricked into fighting for Russia by a daughter of the former South African president Jacob Zuma.

Claims about Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla’s involvement began to be aired in the media last month after the South African government said it was trying to help citizens stranded in Ukraine.

Then, in a bombshell intervention on 22 November, another of Zuma’s daughters, Nkosazana Zuma-Mncube, filed a police report alleging that Zuma-Sambudla and two others had deceptively recruited the men

The accusation sent shock waves through South Africa, where the wider scandal has shone a light on the dire economic situation facing many of its young people. More than 40% of under-35s are not in work or education.

The men are thought to remain trapped in a war they did not sign up for, while their relatives thousands of miles away fear for their lives.

Mary, whose name has been changed to protect her and her son’s identities, said she and her son were introduced to Zuma-Sambudla through a relative when her son was still a child. She said that Zuma-Sambudla contacted the family in June with what she presented as an exciting opportunity in Russia.

Some of the men were allegedly told they would be trained as bodyguards for the uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK) party, led by Jacob Zuma. Others were allegedly told they could enrol on a personal development programme, after which they could attend a Russian university and even get Russian citizenship.

Mary and her son were initially wary, before agreeing. “I remember asking for contracts for the school where they were going to do the course and it was just so rushed,” Mary said. “Like: ‘They need to go, they need to go urgently.’”

Zuma-Sambudla, 43, has long been a fierce defender of her father, who has at least 20 children. President from 2009 to 2018, Zuma retains considerable political influence in South Africa, forming the MK party in December 2023, which won 14.6% of the vote in national elections in May last year.

The African National Congress, to which Zuma originally belonged, has been close to Russia since the Soviet Union supported its fight against apartheid. Since the end of white minority rule, Zuma has been at the forefront of pushing South Africa to maintain close relationships with countries often in conflict with the US, such as Russia, Venezuela and Iran. Under his leadership, in 2010 South Africa joined the non-western nations Brics bloc founded by Brazil, Russia, India and China.

In 2014, Zuma was treated in Russia after claiming he had been poisoned by one of his wives, which she denies. He also tried to push through a nuclear power plant deal with Moscow.

Zuma-Sambudla has also frequently declared her support of Russia. On 22 February 2022, the day of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, she posted on X: “We Love You Both LOUDLY And UNAPOLOGETICALLY So … I’ll Drink To That,” with a photo of her father and Putin toasting.

She is on trial on charges of terrorism and inciting violence in posts on X during deadly riots that broke out in 2021 when her father was jailed for contempt of court. She denies the charges.

Mary said her son met the rest of the group on 8 July at OR Tambo international airport on the outskirts of Johannesburg, from where they flew to Moscow via Dubai.

Screenshots from the “JHB-Russia Team” and “MK/Russia Mission” WhatsApp groups dated in July and August were shared with the Guardian by Chris Hattingh, the defence spokesperson for the Democratic Alliance, the second largest party in South Africa’s coalition government. The MP, who has also filed criminal charges against Zuma-Sambudla, said he received them from relatives of the men. The messages corroborated Mary’s account.

A member of the group replied to a message from the Guardian confirming that he and an unspecified number of others were currently in eastern Ukraine, without providing further details. Another confirmed he was in Ukraine and said he was “ok”, but declined to answer further questions.

On 13 August, the men started demanding answers from Zuma-Sambudla and two others who have been accused of recruiting the group, Siphokazi Xuma and Blessing Khoza, saying they were being split up. One said: “Mr Khoza, stop misleading people and the leadership. We are with the Wagner group, in Ukraine, Donetsk Republic. We are not in Russia.”

On 27 August, Mary’s son called her to say he was being forced to sign a contract in Russian that he did not understand. The Guardian has seen a document that appears to be a contract for another member of the South African and Botswanan group with the 95482 military unit.

The 95482 unit has been involved in the war since its outset, mostly fighting in eastern Ukraine. There have been persistent accounts of internal breakdown, infighting and bullying within the unit. Social media posts and messages from relatives suggest it has taken significant casualties, with families frequently appealing online for information about missing soldiers.

On 6 November, the office of South Africa’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa, said it had received distress calls from the men and was working to bring them home, adding that recruiting for or assisting foreign militaries (without the government’s permission) was illegal in South Africa.

Ramaphosa and Zuma have long been bitter political foes. Ramaphosa led the ousting of Zuma as president in 2018; Zuma founded the MK party only once his efforts to unseat Ramaphosa from within the ANC had failed.

Initially, the group numbered 20 South Africans, but three were allowed to return home.

On 16 November, Zuma-Sambudla held a call with a number of families of the remaining men, but she did not provide answers to questions about where their children were.

On 22 November, Zuma-Mncube filed the police report that alleged her half-sister Zuma-Sambudla, Xuma and Khoza had lured the South African men – eight of them her family members – “under false pretences” and “handed [them] to a Russian mercenary group”.

Zuma-Sambudla then filed her own affidavit claiming she had been deceived by Khoza into recruiting for what she had believed was a legitimate paramilitary training course that she herself had attended.

“I would not, under any circumstances, knowingly expose my own family or any other person to harm,” she said in excerpts from her statement published by local media. She resigned as an MK MP.

Khoza, who has a Russian phone number, did not reply to requests for comment. Xuma could not be reached for comment.

Vincent Magwenya, Ramaphosa’s spokesperson, said he had “no update” on the government’s efforts to bring the South African men safely home. An official at Botswana’s foreign ministry did not reply to requests for comment. The Russian embassy in South Africa did not reply to a request for comment.

More than 1,400 citizens from three dozen African countries are fighting alongside Russian forces in Ukraine, Kyiv’s foreign minister said last month, urging countries to warn their citizens about recruitment.

On 1 December, in a case that police are treating separately, five South Africans including a national radio DJ appeared in court on charges relating to recruitment and fighting for Russia in its war with Ukraine

Meanwhile, Mary continues to be worried sick about her son and bewildered and angry about Zuma-Sambudla’s alleged role. “For Duduzile to actually take a child … I think that is outright evil,” she said. “[In the messages] she keeps assuring them that they’re not going to war and she lets them down like that. I mean, who does that?”