DA to lay charges against Zuma-Sambudla related to group in Russia
The Democratic Alliance (DA) has confirmed its plan to lay criminal charges against the uMkhonto weSizwe Party Member of Parliament, Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla, for the alleged recruitment of South Africans to fight in the Russia-Ukraine war.
The party says it has substantial evidence indicating that the 17 young men were lured to Russia under the pretext of lucrative employment contracts.
The group is reportedly trapped in Ukraine after being handed over to a Russian mercenary group.
At the weekend, Zuma-Sambudla’s sister opened a criminal charge against her and two others relating to the matter.
Nkosazana Zuma Mncube the eldest daughter of Former President Jacob Zuma has laid a criminal case of human trafficking and fraud against Duduzile Zuma and 2 others in relation to the 17 men stuck in the Ukraine. #sabcnews pic.twitter.com/0fTAEuvK2c
— #LordOfTheMedia (@samkelemaseko) November 23, 2025
VIDEO | Government says it is working to assist the young men in Russia:
“I have been in contact with families and everybody tells exactly the same story. It being the young men being lured into Russia for personal development, words that were used and training, security training, they were totally misled. And then what happened to them on the other side is totally the opposite. Their clothes and passports were allegedly burned, their phones were taken away gradually and then finally there’s no contact with them anymore. It’s a serious situation,” says DA Spokesperson on Defence and Military Veterans, Chris Hattingh.
The party has called for an urgent meeting between Parliament’s Portfolio Committees on Defence as well as International Relations to address the matter.
Hattingh says parties implicated in the matter must be held accountable.
“We have asked that Dirco should come and explain and the State Security Agency should come and explain with military intelligence. We would like to know what’s going on. All of these are actually silent on this, nobody is saying a word. We know that the presidency has reached out. We also understand that former President Zuma went with Duduzile to Russia to try and resolve the issue, that’s what we were told, but nobody is saying a word on this anymore. We want these joint portfolio committees to meet. We want the people to come and tell us what’s happening and what the Dirco is going to do, what the presidency is doing about this. We want these people back.”