The daughter of South Africa’s former president Jacob Zuma resigned from parliament on Friday following explosive allegations that she tricked 17 South African men into joining a Russian mercenary group to fight in Ukraine.
Duduzile Zuma Sambudla, who joined parliament in 2024 under her father’s opposition Umkhonto Wisizwe (MK) party, is under formal police investigation, but she denies any involvement.
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South African police said early last week that an investigation into Zuma Sambudla’s role in the case had been launched after her half-sister, Nkosazana Bonganyini Zuma Ncube, filed an affidavit accusing her of trafficking South African men to fight on the front lines of the Russo-Ukrainian war with the promise of well-paid jobs.
The scandal exposed deep rifts within the prominent Zuma family. Like his father, whose government was plagued by corruption scandals, Zuma-Sambudla is a controversial figure in South African politics. Earlier in November, Zuma-Sambudla appeared in court in a separate case where he was accused of helping to incite the 2021 riots that left more than 350 people dead.
Here’s what we know about the latest scandal involving the Zuma family.
what happened?
South African police announced on November 24 that Zuma Sambudra, 43, is being investigated on suspicion of forcibly recruiting 17 South African men into a Russian mercenary group. The investigation began after Zuma Mancube filed an affidavit against his sister. Zuma Mancube is the former president’s eldest daughter and claims to have at least 20 children with his six wives. The current status of the relationship between the sisters is unknown.
Zuma-McNub’s affidavit, filed on November 22, alleges that Zuma-Sambudra, along with two others, lured 17 people to Russia with the promise that they would undergo a year of security training and return to South Africa. However, the men were turned over to a Russian mercenary group and instead sent to fight in Russia’s war against Ukraine, the affidavit continued. At least eight of the 17 were members of the Zuma family.
The other two defendants are named in the affidavit as Mr Siphokazi Xuma and Mr Blessing Khoza.
Zumamacnube said in a statement last week that the three had breached multiple South African laws, including those relating to human trafficking, providing foreign military assistance without the government’s consent and fraud.
“Motivated by moral obligation, I have opened a criminal case at Sandton Police Station,” Zuma-McNube said, calling on the South African government to “expedite all diplomatic efforts to secure the immediate and safe return of our citizens”.
The father of three told The New York Times that he received a call in July from someone calling himself Zuma-Sambudra, inviting him to participate in a one-year training program in Russia, after which he would work as a security guard for the MK party. The man said that six weeks after arriving in Russia, his trainer surprisingly dressed him in a military uniform and sent him to the front lines of the war in Ukraine’s Donbass region.
Another South African man who said he was on the front line in Ukraine told the BBC that Zuma Sambudra and other recruiters bought him a ticket to leave South Africa.
South African authorities announced on November 6 that they had received distress calls from 17 South Africans aged between 20 and 39 asking for their removal from the front line in Ukraine. Of these, 16 were from Zuma’s home province of KwaZulu-Natal and one from the Eastern Cape. President Cyril Ramaphosa directed police to investigate the incident.
Foreign Minister Richard Lamola said on the sidelines of the Group of 20 leaders’ summit in Johannesburg last week that South Africa was in talks with Russian and Ukrainian authorities to repatriate the captured men.
“The police must investigate and whoever was involved in this must be arrested,” Lamola said, adding: [on] We’re on the front lines of this fight, and we’re hopeful that there will be a breakthrough.”
Who are the five people indicted?
Five people were charged this week in connection with the alleged recruitment of men into the Russian military, South African police said. Authorities said they responded to a tip-off as a group of five people were leaving OR Tambo International Airport on a flight to Russia via the UAE. South African police said they were not yet treating the incident as related to the charges against Zuma Sambudra.
Among the five people charged is Nonkululeko Patricia Mantura, 39, a prominent radio presenter who works for the country’s public broadcaster SAFM. Officials said the remaining four men were between the ages of 21 and 46, and that Mantura was “facilitating their travel and recruitment” to Russia, police said.
All are now charged with violating South African laws prohibiting foreign military aid. The court set his next appearance for December 8th for a bail application.
What does South African law say about foreign war?
According to South Africa’s Foreign Military Assistance Regulation Act 1998, it is a crime to serve in a foreign military without permission from the National Conventional Arms Control Board.
Approval may be refused if the request is found to be in conflict with South Africa’s obligations under international law, or if it would result in a violation of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the territory where the foreign military assistance is provided.
The law also completely prohibits mercenary activities. Residents or nationals of South Africa are expressly prohibited from recruiting, training or financing mercenaries or participating in mercenary activities.
Violating the law can result in heavy fines, imprisonment, or both.
South Africa’s constitution also prohibits human trafficking. Like the Basic Conditions of Employment Act 1997, it prohibits forced labor.
Police have not formally charged Zuma-Sambudra with any crime. Police spokeswoman Atrenda Mate told The Associated Press that police charges “have yet to be determined through a thorough investigation.”
South African analyst Sanusya Naidu said in an interview with Al Jazeera that the incident is unlikely to affect Russia-South Africa relations, which have strengthened in recent years under President Cyril Ramaphosa. Both countries are part of BRICS and the G20, both informal economic groupings of emerging countries that are often seen as alternatives to exclusive Western groupings like the G7.
“I don’t think the current relationship is any different from the past just because there are mercenaries hired by people connected to the MK party,” she said. “[The recruitments] The relationship will not change from its current status, as it is a violation of national law. ”
In October 2024, an Associated Press investigation found that young African women were lured to work in the Alabuga Special Economic Zone in Russia’s Tatarstan region, with some helping to build military drones. Several African governments, including South Africa in August, issued warnings to women to be wary of plans to work abroad.
Kenyan authorities said in September that they had rescued more than 20 people from what they believe to be a human trafficking ring designed to lure them into the Ukraine war with the promise of jobs in Russia. Officials say about 200 Kenyans are already fighting for Russia.
What did Zuma Sambudra say?
In a statement to law enforcement last Monday, Zuma-Sambudra claimed he was also a “victim” of the scheme, claiming he was duped by a person called Blessing Rulani Khoza, who contacted him on WhatsApp with the promise of a lucrative security contract in Russia. The politician said he traveled to Russia alone and was exposed to “non-combatant, controlled activities” that convinced him of the plan’s legitimacy.
“Prior to receiving this unsolicited message, I had no connection, acquaintance, or prior knowledge of this person,” she wrote. Zuma Sambudra claimed that after hearing that the men, including his family, had been sent to war, he flew back to Russia and appealed to the Russian authorities and the embassy in South Africa.
“I innocently shared the information. They chose to participate based on spontaneous interest,” she added. “Under no circumstances would I intentionally put my family or anyone else in harm’s way.”
Zuma-Sambudra has been an MK Party member of parliament since June 2024. Her father founded the opposition party after being dramatically expelled from the then-ruling African National Congress (ANC) over allegations of corruption. Presidents Zuma and Ramaphosa were once close allies but have become bitter political rivals in recent years, with MK now the main opposition party in parliament.
On Friday, MK Party leader Magasela Mzobe told a press conference that Zumasambudla had resigned “to focus on helping families return to their loved ones.” Mzobe added that her resignation was not an “admission of guilt” or the result of the organization finding her guilty of any wrongdoing.
Former President Zuma has not commented on the incident.
Meanwhile, the former opposition Democratic Alliance Party, which joined the ruling coalition with the ANC from 2024, filed charges against Zuma Sambudra last Thursday on charges of human trafficking and recruitment for mercenary activities.
Prosecutors, who have long opposed South Africa’s rapprochement with Moscow amid Russia’s war with Ukraine, claimed that Ramaphosa and Zuma knew about the recruitment, saying they had accessed messages from a WhatsApp group chat “controlled” by Zuma Sambudla.
The party said the chats “represent an apparent concerted effort to lure at least 22 people to Russia under the guise of ‘self-development’ and ‘security training’, as well as promises of Russian or Canadian citizenship.”
According to the prosecutor’s office, the men’s passports were confiscated, their clothes were burned, and they were even cut off from contact with their families in Russia. The party added that the three men, who had good relationships with their families, had returned to South Africa.
