Durban, South Africa \u2013<\/strong> When Sipho Dlamini* stepped off a plane from Russia, returning home to the South African port city of Durban last week, he carried nothing but the clothes on his back.<\/p>\n \u201cThey made us burn everything we had,\u201d the 32-year-old said. \u201cClothes, documents, even family photos. From the start, it was hell.\u201d<\/p>\n list of 3 items<\/span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n Dlamini is one of more than a dozen South Africans repatriated from Russia, where they say they were lured under false pretences and thrust onto the front lines of the war in Ukraine \u2013 mirroring the experience of other African men from countries including Kenya and Zimbabwe.<\/p>\n In November last year, it came to light that several South Africans aged between 20 and 39 had been sent to Russia for what they believed would be security training. But soon after, they were conscripted into a paramilitary group and sent to fight in Ukraine.<\/p>\n At the centre of the controversy is Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla \u2013 a daughter of South Africa\u2019s former president, Jacob Zuma \u2013 who resigned as a lawmaker in December after she was implicated in the recruitment drive and the police opened an investigation against her.<\/p>\n The recruits, many from the Zumas\u2019 home region of Nkandla in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) province, returned after current President Cyril Ramaphosa reached out to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin for support in the matter, the presidency said last week.<\/p>\n The returnees and their families are now fearful of reprisals from the recruiters and possible prosecution under South African law, which prohibits citizens from fighting in foreign conflicts. They spoke to Al Jazeera on the condition that their identities be concealed.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were told we\u2019d be trained as VIP bodyguards,\u201d said Thabo Khumalo*, a 28-year-old who told Al Jazeera that Zuma-Sambudla and her stepmother were at the forefront of recruiting the men.<\/p>\n \u201cInitially, she pretended to be going to Russia to receive us. But later we learned she had never left South Africa, even though she pretended to be on the front line in our WhatsApp chat group,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s how we ended up in the trenches.\u201d<\/p>\n Thulani Mahlangu, a spokesperson for the returnees\u2019 families, says Zuma-Sambudla, 43, and her associates were allegedly paid at least 14 million rand (about $845,000) by Russia\u2019s Wagner Group to secure the services of the men.<\/p>\n \u201cOur children were sold off,\u201d said one parent. \u201cThey were promised jobs, but instead they were used.\u201d<\/p>\n In a statement that Zuma-Sambudla submitted to police last year, she claimed she had been a \u201cvictim\u201d herself, alleging she was deceived by promises of lucrative security contracts in Russia.<\/p>\n After the story first broke in South African media, Zuma\u2011Sambudla was forced to step down from her position in parliament, where she represented her father\u2019s opposition uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party. It was another one of Zuma\u2019s daughters, Nkosazana Bonganini Zuma-Mncube, who opened a case against her half-sister for her role in the alleged recruitment.<\/p>\n In KZN province, even those close to the Zumas were targeted.<\/p>\n One relative of former president Zuma \u2013 who did not want to be identified, fearing reprisals \u2013 told Al Jazeera two of her sons and two grandsons had been sent to Russia. \u201cWe lived in fear,\u201d she said. \u201cWe just wanted them home, alive.\u201d<\/p>\n The MK Party has since distanced itself from the scandal, while former President Zuma\u2019s own attempts to secure the men\u2019s release failed. It was Ramaphosa who eventually convinced Putin to allow their repatriation.<\/p>\n At the start of their contracts in Russia, several of the men told Al Jazeera, they were paid a lump sum of 80,000 rand (about $4,800) \u2013 money they quickly sent home when they realised the conditions of their employment.<\/p>\n \u201cI gave it to my mother immediately,\u201d Khumalo said. \u201cI thought I\u2019d die there.\u201d<\/p>\n In Russia, the recruits were issued military uniforms and weapons, and given barely a week of basic drills, they said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were cannon fodder. Some of us didn\u2019t even know how to fire properly before they pushed us forward,\u201d Khumalo said.<\/p>\n On the front lines, the men were stationed in Ukraine\u2019s eastern Donbas region, which has been a primary battlefield of the four-year war.<\/p>\n All the returnees Al Jazeera spoke to said that they witnessed violence and death \u2013 as well as the worst treatment meted out to African fighters.<\/p>\n \u201cAfrican recruits were made to do the most dangerous duties on the front line,\u201d Khumalo said. \u201cSome were forced to go and pick up the dead and injured while drones hovered above them \u2026 Others were shouted at and racially abused by the Russians. It was sad to see Africans treated this way.\u201d<\/p>\n Khumalo said it was a \u201cheartbreaking\u201d experience, only made worse for those who never made it back home.<\/p>\n \u201cThey treated Africans worse,\u201d Mandla Zulu*, 44, agreed. \u201cWe were racially abused, beaten, and sent into the most dangerous areas \u2026 We saw comrades from Nigeria, Zimbabwe, and Kenya die in numbers.\u201d<\/p>\n South Africa\u2019s inclusion in the Russia-Ukraine war is part of a wider African crisis.<\/p>\n More than 1,400 citizens from 36 African countries had been identified among the Russian ranks, Ukraine\u2019s foreign minister said in November. Among those who have died on the front lines are casualties from Ghana, Cameroon, Kenya, Zimbabwe, South Africa, and other nations, according to reports.<\/p>\n In Ghana, Foreign Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa announced that his country has lost around 50 men and said he will travel to Moscow to negotiate the release of captured nationals. Cameroon has reported dozens of deaths, while Zimbabwe and South Africa have also confirmed fatalities among their citizens. Kenya\u2019s Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi is preparing a mission to Russia in March to secure the release of Kenyan fighters.<\/p>\n All Eyes on Wagner, a monitoring group, has documented the aggressive Russian recruitment drive carried out in Africa, noting how vulnerable men were promised jobs, training, or even pathways into Europe \u2013 only to be sent into the war zone with minimal preparation.<\/p>\n \u201cSome of our African brothers said they [joined the war] because they were promised to be smuggled to Western Europe if they fought,\u201d said Zulu, one of the South African returnees. \u201cThat dream was the bait.\u201d<\/p>\n All Eyes on Wagner also said there could be more South Africans fighting in the Russia-Ukraine war.<\/p>\n After Pretoria opened up diplomatic channels with Moscow, the South African men were repatriated in two separate batches \u2013 first four returned, then 11 a week later.<\/p>\n But not all came home unscathed: One returned in a wheelchair while another lost his leg in a drone strike and ended up in a Russian hospital, Mahlangu, the spokesperson for the families said.<\/p>\n Two South Africans are also known to have died in Russia, the government said last week.<\/p>\n Crispin Phiri, the spokesperson for the Department of International Relations and Cooperation, said the government is working with their families to decide whether to cremate their remains in Russia or repatriate them for burial at home.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is very difficult for us as government officials because we have to be sensitive to what they are going through,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n On arrival in Durban last week, the 11 returnees said the police took them to a holding area at King Shaka International Airport. There, they were made to surrender their phones and gadgets so investigators could gather information before they were allowed to leave.<\/p>\n From Durban, they made the long trek back to Nkandla \u2013 more than 210km away \u2013 to reunite with their families.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a big relief to finally go home,\u201d Khumalo said. \u201cAt some stage, we thought we would never come back.\u201d<\/p>\n South Africa\u2019s Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI), commonly known as the Hawks, confirmed that 15 men are under investigation. Colonel Katlego Mogale said the probe focuses on contraventions of the Regulation of Foreign Military Assistance Act, a law that prohibits mercenary activity and regulates the provision of military and security services by South Africans abroad.<\/p>\n The Hawks, which investigates organised crime and corruption, also said five other suspects, unrelated to this case, were arrested in Gauteng province late last year as part of the probe into the recruitment of South Africans for Russia\u2019s war in Ukraine. That group faces charges of fraud, trafficking in persons, and contravening the Regulation of Foreign Military Assistance Act.<\/p>\n When President Ramaphosa announced the South African recruits would return last week, he expressed \u201cheartfelt gratitude\u201d to Putin for his assistance.<\/p>\n Throughout the war, South Africa has sought to maintain a non-aligned stance, and has preserved strong ties with Moscow as a fellow BRICS member alongside Brazil, India and China.<\/p>\n But Pretoria\u2019s stance on the Russia\u2011Ukraine war has sparked debate, with experts questioning its neutrality. \u201cOur non\u2011aligned position does not mean that we condone Russia\u2019s military intervention in Ukraine, which has violated international law,\u201d said Elizabeth Sidiropoulos, of the think tank, the South African Institute of International Affairs.<\/p>\n South Africa has historical ties with Russia, which date back to the apartheid era when the Soviet Union helped arm and train resistance fighters opposing racist rule. This has led to a delicate political balancing act under democracy.<\/p>\n However, South Africa\u2019s abstentions on United Nations resolutions condemning Russia\u2019s actions in Ukraine have drawn criticism from Western nations in recent years.<\/p>\n Last Tuesday, the Russia\u2011Ukraine war entered its fourth year with no sign it will end anytime soon. The casualties \u2013 Ukrainians, Russians, and foreign mercenaries fighting on both sides \u2013 continue to rise, underscoring the human cost of a conflict that has drawn in vulnerable recruits from far beyond Europe\u2019s borders.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, for the families of the fighters \u2013 especially those who feel they were duped into the war \u2013 the politics matters less than the pain they feel.<\/p>\n \u201cWe just want our children home, alive,\u201d said one parent. \u201cAnd we want those who deceived us to face justice.\u201d<\/p>\n *Names have been changed to protect privacy and safety.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Durban, South Africa \u2013 When Sipho Dlamini* stepped off a plane from Russia, returning home to the South African port city of Durban last week, he carried nothing but the clothes on his back. \u201cThey made us burn everything we had,\u201d the 32-year-old said. \u201cClothes, documents, even family photos. From the start, it was hell.\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14017,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14016","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-europe-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14016","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14016"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14016\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n
![\"Duduzile](\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/13500366-1764379634.jpg?w=770&resize=770%2C513&quality=80\")
A continental campaign<\/h2>\n
![\"South](\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/2026-02-24T152955Z_1556448586_RC2BSJAMB4JE_RTRMADP_3_UKRAINE-CRISIS-SAFRICA-PROTEST-1772700178.jpg?w=770&resize=770%2C507&quality=80\")
Arrests and investigations<\/h2>\n
![\"South](\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/2026-01-14T133130Z_1637420190_RC2O7IATQ3DO_RTRMADP_3_UKRAINE-CRISIS-SAFRICA-1772700164.jpg?w=770&resize=770%2C542&quality=80\")
South Africa\u2019s neutrality under scrutiny<\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"