By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
SA fm radio presenter Nonkululeko Mantula appeared in Kempton Park magistrate court on Monday accused of recruiting men to fight for Russia in the war in Ukraine.
Mantula, 39, was arrested alongside four men after a tip off, She is accused of recruiting the four men and organizing for them to join the Russian army.
Hawks spokersperson Katlego Mogale said, three of the men were detained while trying to board a flight to Russia via the United Arab Emirates. She said they believed another person had already traveled to Russia after being recruited by Mantula.
They were all arrested at the O.R. Tambo International Airport a few days ago.
They are facing charges under the Regulation of Foreign Military Assistance Act. Their case was postponed to 8 December for a formal bail application.
It is illegal in South Africa to fight for another country’s army without permission from the government.
The arrest of Mantula, came as police are separately investigating a daughter of former President Jacob Zuma for allegedly tricking another 17 men into fighting as mercenaries for Russia in Ukraine.
Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla was accused by her half-sister of duping the men into traveling to Russia under the pretense that they would receive security training that would help them secure jobs.
The government said last month that it received distress calls from the 17 South Africans, who had been forced to fight for a Russian mercenary group in eastern Ukraine and were now trapped there.
The South African government launched a separate investigating into how the men came to be on the front lines of the war and is working with international law enforcement agencies to repatriate them.
Zuma-Sambudla has previously been accused of promoting Russian interests over the war in Ukraine. A 2023 report by the international nonprofit Centre for Information Resilience said Zuma-Sambudla’s social media account was instrumental in spreading pro-Russia messages soon after its invasion of Ukraine in early 2022.