Nonkululeko Mantula: South African radio presenter among five charged over Russia recruitment plot

A radio presenter with South Africa’s public broadcaster has appeared in court on a charge related to the alleged recruitment of men for the Russian military.

Nonkululeko Patricia Mantula is among five people who prosecutors say are facing charges for contravening a law which prohibits South Africans from joining a foreign army without official permission. They have not yet been asked to plead.

The arrests are the first since the South African government said in November that 17 citizens had “seemingly” been lured to join mercenary forces in the Russia-Ukraine war.

Police told the BBC that at this stage, they are not linking the two cases.

Mantula, 39, is a presenter of The Morning Bliss, a show on the SABC’s SAFM radio station.

In a statement emailed to the BBC, the SABC said that she was a freelance presenter.

“As this is a personal issue before the courts, the corporation will allow due processes to unfold and has no further comment at this stage,” it added.

Mantula has not commented.

Her arrest, along with four others, follows the dramatic resignation from parliament last Friday of Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla, the daughter of South Africa’s former President Jacob Zuma, who has been accused of duping the 17 South African men – including some of her relatives – into fighting for Russia, an allegation she denies.

The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said that Mantula had been arrested with four men, aged between 21 and 46.

They each face a charge of contravening the Regulation of Foreign Military Assistance Act.

The NPA said the arrests followed a tip-off from police at South Africa’s main international airport in Johannesburg.

They were “intercepted” as they attempted to travel to Russia via the United Arab Emirates, and “were removed from the boarding gate after being deemed suspicious”, it added.

The NPA said it was further alleged that Mantula “had been facilitating the travel and recruitment of her co-accused into the Russian Federation military”.

Mantula and her co-accused appeared briefly at the Kempton Park Magistrates’ Court near Johannesburg on Monday, and were remanded in custody.

The NPA said it was “committed to ensuring that individuals who violate the laws of the country are held accountable and will continue to work with other law-enforcement partners to protect the integrity and security” of South Africa.

The accused are due to make their next court appearance on 8 December for a bail application.

In November, South Africa’s government said it had received distress calls from 17 citizens who were trapped in Ukraine’s war-torn Donbas region after joining mercenary forces.

It added that it was working through “diplomatic channels” to bring them back, but this has not yet happened.

The men were lured to join the mercenary forces under the pretext of lucrative contracts, the government said, adding that it condemned “the exploitation of young vulnerable people by individuals working with foreign military entities”.

South Africa has an unemployment rate of more than 30%, which is even higher among young people.

Zuma-Sambudla’s resignation as an MP came after her half-sister, Nkosazana Zuma-Mncube, filed a complaint with police, accusing her of tricking the 17 men to fight for Russia as mercenaries.

Zuma-Mncube said that eight of them were members of her family, and they had been “handed to a Russian mercenary group to fight in the Ukraine war without their knowledge or consent”.

South Africa’s elite police unit, the Hawks, said the case was being investigated by its officers who focus on “crime against the state”.

Zuma-Sambudla, who became a member of parliament for the largest opposition party, uMkhonto weSizwe (MK), last year, has said in an affidavit that she thought the men were going to Russia for “lawful” training.

MK says it was her decision to resign as she wants to focus her efforts on ensuring the return of those trapped in a war zone.

In September, Kenyan police said they had rescued more than 20 people from a suspected trafficking ring that had lured them with job offers in Russia but intended to send them to fight in Ukraine.

Ukraine has previously said that it was holding citizens of various countries – Somalia, Sierra Leone, Togo, Cuba and Sri Lanka – at prisoner-of-war camps.

It has also previously come in for criticism for trying to recruit foreign nationals, including Africans, to fight on its side.

In 2022, Senegal’s foreign ministry said it had summoned Kyiv’s ambassador to demand the withdrawal of an embassy post on Facebook urging foreigners to enlist for its war effort.

At the time, Nigeria also warned that it would not tolerate Ukraine’s recruitment drive, forcing it to back-pedal.