Daughter of S. Africa ex-president accused of recruiting for Russian forces

Former president and now leader of the MK Party, Jacob Zuma, with his daughter, Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla, right, at the Results Operation Centre (ROC) in Midrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, Saturday, June 1, 2024.

South African police are investigating claims that a daughter of ex-president Jacob Zuma was involved in recruiting men to join Russian mercenaries in the Ukraine war, they said Sunday.

The allegations against Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla, an MP in her father’s MK political party, were made by one of her sisters in an affidavit asking for a formal investigation, police said.

It claims Zuma-Sambudla and two other people were involved in recruiting 17 South Africans whom the presidency said this month it had been asked to be rescued from Ukraine’s war-ravaged Donbas region.

It was alleged the “men were lured to Russia under false pretences and handed to a Russian mercenary group to fight in the Ukrainian war without their knowledge or consent,” the statement said.

The case had been handed to a special police unit that investigates crimes against the state to determine the charges.

The presidency said in early November it had been asked to bring home the 17 men who were allegedly “trapped” in Donbas after being lured there “under the pretext of lucrative employment contracts”.

The war that started with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 has drawn in mercenaries on both sides, including from several African countries.

Reports in South African media said the men were allegedly sent to Russia for security training by the opposition MK party, which is headed by Zuma, the president between 2009 and 2018.

It is illegal for South Africans to join foreign armies unless authorised by the government.