Johannesburg – At least 18 South African men, lured to Russia under the false pretence of bodyguard training, are now trapped on the frontlines of the war in Ukraine, desperately pleading for repatriation. They accuse Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla, daughter of former president Jacob Zuma, and two others of misleading them into signing contracts that have forced them into combat.
The men, speaking to News24 through their families, report being separated into groups with no knowledge of each other's fate. They lay the blame squarely on Zuma-Sambudla, alleging she promised to share their experience, undergoing the same military training and hardships, including simulated combat scenarios in mountainous terrain.
However, relatives claim that Zuma-Sambudla was nowhere to be found when the men were deployed to the war-torn Donbas region of Ukraine. "She returned to South Africa immediately after the guys were taken to Ukraine. She came back with Andile Mandela and two other men," one family member revealed.
News24 confirmed that Andile Mandela, a grandson of Nelson Mandela, is indeed back in South Africa. He declined to comment, stating, "I am not going to respond."
Videos sent to News24 by the families show three of the men, now unwilling soldiers stationed near Donetsk, alleging that Zuma-Sambudla, whom they trusted, persuaded them to sign contracts written in Russian, a language they did not understand. These contracts, they say, have now compelled them to fight in the war.
"She said she would be spending a whole year in Russia doing the same training. She told us about sleeping in the mountains with guns and grenades with her. We saw someone that we know and trusted, so we decided to sign," one of the men explained.
The men, allegedly recruited by Jacob Zuma’s MK Party (MKP) for bodyguard training, now find themselves in the midst of a brutal conflict. They have appealed to President Cyril Ramaphosa for assistance, so far without success.
One of the men shared images with News24 of an abandoned farmhouse near the frontline, where they sought shelter from Ukrainian drone attacks. More recently, he reported that they were being moved again.
"I’m being given a gun now, and they say we are going to training for a month," he said. Later, he added, "My brother, we are now in a truck. We are going somewhere and with people we don’t know… There are like 50 of us, as you can hear, [in] the truck. It’s fine, my brother, I hope we are going to come back, we don’t know."
On Sunday, Zuma's daughter, Nkosazana Bonganini Zuma-Mncube, filed an affidavit at the Sandton police station, requesting a formal investigation into Zuma-Sambudla's alleged involvement in the recruitment.
"Among these men, who are requesting the South African government for assistance, are eight of my family members," she said in a statement. Zuma-Mncube believes her sister has contravened the Prevention and Combating of Trafficking in Persons Act and the Regulation of Foreign Military Assistance Act, and has committed fraud. The docket has been handed over to the Hawks’ Crime Against the State Unit for further investigation.
Questions sent to Zuma-Sambudla have gone unanswered, and the MKP has declined to comment. Zuma-Sambudla is already facing trial in the KwaZulu-Natal High Court in Durban on charges of inciting violence and terrorism related to the July 2021 riots.
Six of the 18 men
have identified Zuma-Sambudla, along with Siphokazi Xuma-Zuma and Blessing Khoza, as being responsible for their recruitment. The men said they were told the bodyguard training programme involved "learning to fly drones, driving water tankers and gathering intelligence," with the understanding that they would return to South Africa as MKP bodyguards.
One of the men recounted that their troubles began upon arrival in Russia in July, with a group of more than 20 recruits. "We encountered our first problem when we got to Moscow, and we spent a long time at the airport as they did not want to let us in… After a while, a soldier came, and we were let inside the county. There was a man carrying a board with MK written on it [and] we went to him. From there, we travel from Moscow for two full days to another area without having water or food."
The men corroborate each other's accounts that Zuma-Sambudla and Khoza persuaded them to sign the Russian-language contracts without providing translators. These contracts, they have been told, now bind them to fight in the war. News24 understands that the contracts were dated 14 July 2025 and are valid for one year.
After a few weeks of training, the men began to suspect that something was amiss. "We went to another place where we stayed for over a month. That’s when we realised that what we were doing now was not what we had come for… They would take people in pairs or fours and say they were being deployed to different places, but we ended up not seeing them ever again. We were also separated in groups. We are all now in Ukraine, but we are separated, and we don’t know where the other group is," one recruit stated.
Another added that they underwent combat training, including shooting exercises, and were gradually moved closer to the conflict zone. "They told us to pack our bags, that we are going to another place because that place was dangerous. They said drones were flying all over… They took us by bus, and we travelled four to five hours, and we were taken to Ukraine to train with the military group up until we were told that we were going to the frontline."
He also revealed that among the group of South Africans were two men from Botswana and two from Ghana. "The Batswana and Ghanaians were taken away in August and told that they were going on a combat mission. Since then, we never heard anything about them or from them."
The men are emotionally drained and desperate to return home to their families. "We are scared for our lives. My wish is to go back home to my family and kids," one said. Another pleaded in a video sent to his family, "We are in serious trouble, and we need to go back home."
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