Ramaphosa commended for facilitating return of South Africans fighting in Ukraine

The ANC in KwaZulu-Natal has commended President Cyril Ramaphosa for striking a deal with his Russian counterpart Vladmir Putin for the return of South Africans who were dragged into the frontline of a deadly conflict between Russia and Ukraine under the pretext that they were being recruited for high paying jobs in Russia. Four of the 17 South Africans who fell for the scam were repatriated back to South Africa on Wednesday. The majority of the South Africans who were recruited for Russia/Ukraine are from KwaZulu-Natal.

ANC provincial spokesperson Fanle Sibisi condemned the individuals behind the recruitment scam, which involves former president Jacob Zuma’s daughter Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla. Zuma Sambundla last year resigned as MK Party MP amid a police investigation into the illegal recruitment of South Africans. The ANC views this matter with the utmost seriousness.

It is both chilling and wholly unacceptable that South African citizens could be manipulated and exploited in such a manner, reduced, as reports suggest, to disposable participants in a brutal war not of their making. “The Department of International Relations and Cooperation, and all diplomatic partners involved in this successful repatriation effort. South Africa is a caring nation, and the ANC remains resolute that no citizen should ever be abandoned to the horrors of war through deception and exploitation.

[paywall]

“The ANC further emphasises that, in terms of South Africa’s Foreign Military Assistance Act of 1998, participation in foreign military activity without authorisation is unlawful,” he said. This incident must serve as a stark warning against criminal recruitment networks that prey on unemployment, vulnerability, and false promises of opportunity abroad. Addressing MPs during the State of the Nation (Sona) debate in Parliament on Wednesday, International Relations and Cooperation Minister Ronald Lamola confirmed that Ramaphosa was engaged in talks with Putin to have the remainder of the South Africans fighting in Ukraine returned to their home country.

[/paywall]