LISTEN | Fears for sons recruited by MKP to Russia

“We are getting by, even though it’s painful, but hope is starting to disappear.”

This is part of a voice note that an MK Party military training recruit sent to his 69-year-old mother, Phumla Zuma, on WhatsApp after finding himself being deployed in the Russia–Ukraine conflict.

The man can be heard struggling to hold back his tears, saying there was “no movement” and that he was trying to be strong. “Our condition has not changed,” he said.

Zuma said her two sons, aged 34 and 28, as well as her grandchild, were recruited by Siphokazi Xuma, who is close to MK Party leader Jacob Zuma’s family.

Zuma said Xuma approached her and one of her sons in July and told them that there was an opportunity to train to be bodyguards in Russia for a year.

“She said when they come back home, the MK Party would organise jobs for them. I raised R1,000 for my son to get his passport, which was about to expire. My grandchild already had his passport.”

Zuma said her sons told her that Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla, the daughter of former president Jacob Zuma, was also in Russia.

Zuma struggled to speak as she recalled her sons telling her they were given firearms and camouflage uniforms.

“These kids have never even used a bush knife. Even though they are Zulu, whenever there is a function, they don’t know how to carry the sticks. But now they are forced to go and fight?

“They never touched a gun or even a knife. Can you imagine, as a mother, hearing that your child is in a war zone? I can’t sleep.”

Zuma said she has not been able to get hold of the woman who recruited her son.

A Botswana mother alleged to Sowetan that her son was taken to Russia under the guise of attending a personal development course after being recruited by Zuma-Sambudla.

The woman, 39, said she has been begging Zuma-Sambudla to tell her about her son’s whereabouts, whom she last spoke to in August and who was recruited with his cousin, another Botswana citizen.

The woman, who preferred to remain anonymous, said Zuma-Sambudla is a friend of her child’s father, a Botswana citizen living in SA. She said her son shared a birthday with president Zuma and Zuma-Sambudla used to call and wish him a happy birthday.

Sometime this year, she said, Zuma-Sambudla told them about a personal development course in Russia that she asked her 19-year-old son to be part of. When her son was already in Russia, Zuma-Sambudla told her that her son was in fact undergoing military training, she said.

“I was like, ‘Guys, no’, I want my son back. I was not aware that this is military training. Had I known from the onset, I would have never allowed my child to go,” she said.

When she later spoke to her son, she said he told her that they had been given contracts in Russian and were forced to sign them.

The woman said her son sent her the contract and when she googled and translated it, it said the young men were joining the Russian military.

Her son, she said, had never handled a firearm before and at some point when they spoke, he told her that he had been injured on the hand when the gun backfired.

She last spoke to her son on August 27 and later heard from other parents that he was taken to the frontlines and last seen on August 28.

“I was furious and livid. I would not want to believe that the woman my son calls aunty Dudu would put my son’s life in danger.”

Two weeks ago, she said, she had a conference call with Zuma-Sambudla, her son’s father and the parents of her son’s cousin.

In that meeting, Zuma-Sambudla was trying to shift blame on someone else, the woman said.

“We told her, ‘Don’t try to bring anyone else into the picture. The children say you are the one who came with Siphokazi and convinced them to sign contracts’.”

She said she has since informed the government of Botswana because “this is a clear case of human trafficking”.

Ayanda Mnguni, whose 38-year-old brother was also recruited, shared voice notes with Sowetan in which the man can be heard saying they were moving them to another area on Tuesday.

Mnguni said before her brother went to Russia, he told the family that he was leaving within a week for training.

She said while the family had concerns about how rushed the trip was, they could not convince him otherwise.

“When someone is looking for something better, you cannot stop them, and he is part of the MK Party and thought it was a great opportunity.”

When her brother arrived in Russia, he told the family he was given a camouflage uniform and firearms. “You could hear that he is not okay. He would whisper as if he were hiding from someone. I think he was still confused as to what was happening.”

Presidency spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said there was no update on when the men would be brought back to SA.

The chairperson of the portfolio committee on international relations and cooperation, Supra Mahumapelo, said police were investigating the matter to establish how the men were recruited, processed and platooned into the Russian army.

Sowetan reached out to Zuma-Sambudla and Xuma. However, they never responded to calls and messages.

Sowetan