Khaberni - The Guardian reported that 5 South African citizens have appeared in court on charges related to recruiting and fighting for Russia in its war against Ukraine, amid allegations that another 17 citizens were deceived into joining the front lines.
The police said that a woman was detained on Thursday upon her return to OR Tambo International Airport near Johannesburg, while 3 men were detained at the airport on Friday, and another on Saturday.
She explained in a statement that the arrests came after a report about 3 men who were on their way to Russia, where they were turned away from the boarding gate on suspicion, before being referred to the special investigations unit "Hawks".
The statement added that the preliminary investigation revealed the involvement of a South African woman in facilitating the travel and recruitment of these individuals into the Russian armed forces.
The suspects who appeared before the court in a brief session are: Nokululiko Mantola (39 years old), a national radio presenter, and Thulani Mazibuko (24 years old), and Zolani Ntuli (47 years old), and Sibhamandla Chabalala (23 years old), and Sfizo Mabina (21 years old). They were returned to custody pending a bail hearing on December 8th.
Political and Family Backgrounds
The arrests come amid conflicting statements from the daughters of former South African President Jacob Zuma, where Nkosazana Zuma-Mncube accused her sister Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla and two others of recruiting 17 men, including 8 of Zuma’s relatives, by deceiving them into believing they were to receive training as personal bodyguards for the family-affiliated party "Umhonto we Sizwe".
Zuma-Sambudla claimed that Blessing Khoza deceived her into recruiting individuals in what she believed was a legitimate course, after she participated in a month's training in Russia, before resigning last week from her post as deputy for "Umhonto we Sizwe", which means “Spear of the Nation” in Zulu.
The President's Office, Cyril Ramaphosa, announced on November 6th that it was investigating how these men reached Eastern Ukraine, and that it is working on returning them home.
A Controversial Figure
The accusations against Mantola garnered widespread interest, as she was presenting a radio program on South African Broadcasting, and posted pictures of herself from Moscow on her Instagram account.
According to her social media accounts, she held the position of co-chair of the "BRICS Journalists Association," an organization placed on the European sanctions list in July as a tool for spreading pro-Russian narratives and misinformation under the guise of independent journalism.
European records indicate that the association was founded by Yevgeny Prigozhin, the leader of the Wagner armed group who was killed in a plane crash in 2023, and that it was used to disseminate fake content sourced from the media manipulation unit "Storm-1516".
