Five South Africans have appeared in court on charges linked to recruiting and fighting for Russia in the war in Ukraine, amid allegations that 17 South Africans were duped onto the frontlines.
Police said a woman suspect was arrested on Thursday after arriving at OR Tambo international airport outside Johannesburg. Three suspects were detained at the airport on Friday and a fifth was arrested on Saturday. A police statement said the arrests followed a tip-off from OR Tambo SAPS about three men attempting to travel to Russia via the United Arab Emirates; they were removed from a boarding gate as suspicious and referred to the Hawks’ crimes-against-the-state unit. “Preliminary investigation revealed that a South African female had been facilitating the travel and recruitment of these individuals into the Russian Federation military,” the statement added.
The five who appeared at a brief court hearing and were remanded in custody are Nonkululeko Mantula, 39, a national radio presenter; Thulani Mazibuko, 24; Xolani Ntuli, 47; Siphamandla Tshabalala, 23; and Sfiso Mabena, 21. Proceedings were adjourned to a bail hearing on 8 December.
The arrests follow competing police affidavits lodged by two daughters of former president Jacob Zuma. It is illegal in South Africa to fight for or assist 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 her sister, Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla, and two others — 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. Zuma-Sambudla has said she was deceived by Khoza into recruiting for what she believed was a legitimate course after she attended training in Russia for a month; 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.
Attention has focused on Mantula, who hosted the early-morning 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 had been used to spread pro-Russian narratives and disinformation, including fake content tied to the Storm-1516 information-manipulation set.
