Jacob Zuma’s daughter accused of tricking men into fighting for Russia in Ukraine

Original article by Rachel Savage in Johannesburg

South African police are investigating allegations that a daughter of the former president Jacob Zuma tricked men into fighting for Russia in Ukraine by telling them they were travelling to Russia for a paramilitary training course.

Another of Zuma’s daughters, Nkosazana Zuma-Mncube, filed a police report on Saturday alleging that her sister Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla and two others, Siphokazi Xuma and Blessing Khoza, had recruited 17 men who are now trapped on the frontlines of the war in Ukraine.

A copy of Zuma-Mncube’s statement shared by South Africa media outlets read: “These men were lured to Russia under false pretences and handed to a Russian mercenary group to fight in the Ukraine war without their knowledge or consent. Among these 17 men, who are requesting the South African government for assistance, are eight of my family members.”

Zuma-Mncube accused the three of breaking laws against people trafficking, providing assistance to foreign militaries and fraud, saying she was “driven by moral obligation”. A spokesperson for the South African police service confirmed they had received the statement.

Thandi Mbambo, a spokesperson for the Hawks serious crime unit, which is now handling the case, said: “Investigation in this matter is still at an early stage, with the docket received only Sunday, so there is nothing much to report except that investigation is under way.”

The South African news outlet News24 said it had received videos from three of the South African men trapped in Ukraine, in which the men alleged Zuma-Sambudla had persuaded them to sign contracts in Russian that they did not understand and said she would spend a year in Russia training with them.

Zuma-Sambudla has now filed charges against Khoza, claiming she was duped into recruiting men for what she thought was a legitimate training programme, according to the local media outlet Daily News.

Mbambo confirmed the Hawks had also received allegations from Zuma-Sambudla, but would not confirm their contents. Zuma-Sambudla did not respond to a request for comment. Xuma and Khoza could not be reached for comment.

Zuma-Sambudla is an MP for her father’s uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party, which won 14.6% of the vote in the 2024 national elections after he broke away from the African National Congress party.

The 43-year-old is currently on trial on charges of inciting violence via posts on X, then known as Twitter, in deadly riots that broke out in 2021 when her father was sent to jail for contempt of court. She has denied the allegations.

As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine nears its fourth anniversary, reports have grown of both sides enlisting foreign fighters. Russia has done so on a much bigger scale, amid allegations that they have relied on coercion and deception.

There have been numerous reports of Russian state actors and murky intermediaries forcing or duping people from Africa into fighting for them, as well as recruits from India, Nepal, Syria, and Cuba. They are often drawn in by false promises of well-paid non-military jobs advertised on social media.

In September, the Ukrainian military released a video of a captured Kenyan fighter who said he had been deceived into fighting for Russia.

Meanwhile, thousands of North Korean soldiers have been sent by their government to fight for Russia, with hundreds thought to have died.

Ukraine has encouraged foreign volunteers to join its armed forces and recently recruited 2,000 contract soldiers from Colombia.

On 6 November the office of South Africa’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa, said it was investigating how 17 men aged 20 to 39 ended up being trapped in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine. It said it was working to bring them home after receiving “distress calls for assistance”.

The men “were lured to join mercenary forces involved in the Ukraine-Russia war under the pretext of lucrative employment contracts”, the statement said, noting that South Africans are not permitted to assist or fight for foreign militaries without government authorisation. Ramaphosa’s spokesperson Vincent Magwenya declined to comment further.