{"id":303306,"date":"2025-11-24T07:24:07","date_gmt":"2025-11-24T07:24:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/303306\/"},"modified":"2025-11-24T07:24:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T07:24:07","slug":"zumas-daughter-probed-over-ukraine-war-role-dw-11-24-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/303306\/","title":{"rendered":"Zuma’s daughter probed over Ukraine war role \u2013 DW \u2013 11\/24\/2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

South African<\/a> police on Sunday confirmed they are investigating claims that Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla, daughter of former President Jacob Zuma<\/a>, and two others conned 17 men into fighting for Russia in Ukraine<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Another of Zuma’s daughters, Nkosazana Bongamini Zuma-Mncube, accused her stepsister of sending the men to Russia before they were ordered to the front lines.<\/p>\n

“These men were lured to Russia under false pretenses and handed to a Russian mercenary group to fight in the Ukraine war without their knowledge or consent. Among these 17 men are eight of my family members,” Zuma-Mncube said in a public statement.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, President Cyril Ramaphosa’s<\/a> office said it “received distress calls for assistance to return home from 17 South African men, ages 20 to 39, who are trapped in the war-torn Donbas.”<\/p>\n

South Africans fighting for Russia in Ukraine<\/p>\n

Zuma-Sambudla, who is\u00a0a member of parliament for her father’s uMkhonto weSizwe party (MK)<\/a>, did not immediately respond to the accusations.<\/p>\n

She reportedly told the men they would train as bodyguards to work for the party.<\/p>\n

Russia accused of tricking foreigners into fighting<\/p>\n

To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video<\/a><\/p>\n

On November 6, the South African Presidency said in a statement that the men were promised “lucrative employment contracts.” Ramaphosa ordered an inquiry into how the men were recruited.<\/p>\n

South African law prohibits citizens from fighting for foreign armies without government authorization.<\/p>\n

Zuma-Mncube urged the government “to expedite all diplomatic efforts to secure the immediate and safe return of our citizens.”<\/p>\n

Zuma-Sambudla also on trial over deadly riots<\/p>\n

The latest police investigation comes as Zuma-Sambudla is already on trial for allegedly inciting violence during riots in 2021<\/a> that left more than 300 people dead.<\/p>\n

The unrest broke out in July 2021 after her father was arrested for disobeying a court order to testify at a corruption inquiry, and it morphed into widespread looting.<\/p>\n

\"FormerZuma-Sambudla has consistently voiced strong support for her father, former president Jacob Zuma [FILE: December 16, 2023]Image: Themba Hadebe\/AP Photo\/picture alliance<\/p>\n

She pleaded not guilty to the charge during a hearing in early November attended by Zuma.<\/p>\n

He was South Africa’s president from 2009 to 2018.<\/p>\n

MK was a major disruptor in last year’s national election, contributing to a sharp drop in support for the African National Congress, which Zuma once led.<\/p>\n

Edited by: Wesley Dockery<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"South African police on Sunday confirmed they are investigating claims that Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla, daughter of former President Jacob…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":303307,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-303306","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303306","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=303306"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303306\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/303307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=303306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=303306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=303306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}