Five Charged Over Recruiting South Africans for Russia

Five South Africans have appeared in court accused of recruiting and facilitating South Africans to travel to Russia to fight in the war in Ukraine, amid allegations that 17 people were lured to the frontlines. Police said one woman was arrested on Thursday after arriving at OR Tambo International Airport near Johannesburg, three suspects were detained at the airport on Friday and a fifth arrested on Saturday. The arrests followed a tip-off from OR Tambo SAPS about three men trying to travel to Russia via the United Arab Emirates; they were stopped at a boarding gate and referred to the Hawks’ crimes-against-the-state unit. Preliminary inquiries indicated a South African woman had been helping arrange travel and recruitment into the Russian military, the police said. The five remanded in custody after a brief court appearance are Nonkululeko Mantula, 39, a national radio presenter; Thulani Mazibuko, 24; Xolani Ntuli, 47; Siphamandla Tshabalala, 23; and Sfiso Mabena, 21. Their case was adjourned to a bail hearing on 8 December. The arrests come as competing police affidavits were filed by two daughters of former president Jacob Zuma. South African law prohibits fighting for or assisting foreign militaries without government authorisation. On 6 November the office of President Cyril Ramaphosa said it was investigating how the men became trapped in eastern Ukraine and was working to bring them home. On 22 November Nkosazana Zuma-Mncube filed a police report alleging that her sister, Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla, together with Siphokazi Xuma and Blessing Khoza, recruited 17 men, including eight relatives of the Zuma family, by telling them they would train as bodyguards for the Zumas’ uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party. Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla has said she was deceived by Khoza into recruiting for what she believed was a legitimate training course after attending a month of training in Russia; the 43-year-old resigned as an MK MP last week. Russia’s embassy in South Africa did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Public attention has focused on Mantula, who hosted the Morning Bliss show on national broadcaster SAfm; her social media showed her speaking at events in Moscow on 9 November and her profiles list her as co-chair of the Brics Journalists Association. The EU placed the Brics Journalists Association under sanctions in July, saying it was a Russian NGO founded by Yevgeny Prigozhin and that it had been used to spread pro-Russian narratives and disinformation, including fake content tied to the Storm-1516 information-manipulation set.