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.
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.
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.