The daughter of former South African President Jacob Zuma has been linked to recruiting citizens from South Africa and Botswana for service in Russian military forces in the war against Ukraine, Bloomberg reports, citing sources familiar with the situation and WhatsApp correspondence.
According to the publication, a group of approximately 20 young men contacted by South African parliamentarian Duduzile Zuma traveled to Russia in July after being told they would train as bodyguards for her father's political party, uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP).
Relatives of some of the men told Bloomberg that they signed military contracts written entirely in Russian and ended up on the frontlines, losing contact with their families in August. The relatives insist the men believed they were signing documents for a bodyguard training course.
Bloomberg obtained photographs showing the group traveling to Russia and later wearing camouflage with instructors. WhatsApp messages between the men's parents and Zuma, shown to the publication, reveal her assurances that they would not be sent to the front.
"As we speak now, we are packing and preparing to move to the war zone," one of the young men wrote in a WhatsApp message to Duduzile Zuma, asking why his phone and bank cards were being taken away.
"It's not the frontline. They are just scaring you," she responded. "What I know is that you will watch Russian solders go in and out of the red zone and you may just patrol or be put on cooking duties or gun cleaning," she wrote later, promising to come and fetch them "personally" if they were sent to the frontline.
In the messages, Zuma told some of the men she had been on the same bodyguard training course. "They will taunt you like they did with me," she said. "But I trust and believe all will be well."
Relatives of those sent to Russia said that after this, it became difficult to contact her and she did not answer calls or messages for up to a month.
Zuma has previously been tied to Russian social media campaigns, where she posted support for Russian President Vladimir Putin on X platform, shared photos of herself in Russia and her father with Putin, and attacked current South African President Cyril Ramaphosa.
The woman is currently on trial for treason charges for inciting violence on social media in 2021, when approximately 350 people were killed in riots after her father was imprisoned for contempt of court.
The information emerged two weeks after President Ramaphosa ordered an investigation into how South African citizens were recruited to fight as mercenaries in Russia's war against Ukraine. In a November 6 statement, Ramaphosa's office said 17 South Africans stuck in the Donbas region contacted the president's office seeking help.
Working as a mercenary or fighting on behalf of another government has been a crime in South Africa since 1998.
On November 11, South African news website News24 reported that Jacob Zuma had written a letter to Russia's defense minister asking him to remove 18 men from the combat zone, stating they had been misled into signing an infantry contract in Pskov, near Estonia.
Since Russia's war against Ukraine began in 2022, there have been reports across the continent of African citizens being recruited to fight for Russia. In September, Business Insider Africa reported Kenya opened an inquiry after its citizens were found fighting in the conflict. More than 200 Kenyans are fighting for Russia, according to Foreign Minister Musalia Mudavadi last week. On November 7, Reuters reported Ukraine's foreign minister as saying more than 1,400 Africans are fighting for Russia.
The "I Want to Live" project previously received lists naming 16,894 foreigners from 121 countries and unrecognized territories who fought or continue to fight against Ukraine as part of the Russian army. Among them are 4,658 citizens of Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, 1,013 citizens of African states, and 9,961 citizens of other countries and territories. At least 678 foreigners from this list are now known to have been killed.
