Hawks Investigates Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla for 17 South African Men Trapped in Donbas
- The Hawks confirmed that an investigation into Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla's alleged involvement in the trafficking of 17 South Africans to Ukraine was launched
- This was after Nkosazana Bonganini Zuma-Mncube, Duduzile's half-sister, opened a case against Duduzile
- South African Police Service spokesperson Brigadier Athlenda Mathe confirmed that a case against Duduzile was opened
Tebogo Mokwena, Briefly News’ Deputy Head of the Current Affairs desk, South Africa, covered a range of criminal activities, including cash-in-transit heists, kidnappings, taxi violence, shootings, police investigations, police shootouts, and court cases at Daily Sun for over three years.
Source: Twitter
GAUTENG — The South African Police Service (SAPS) confirmed that Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla is under investigation. This was after her half-sister Bonganini Zuma-Mncube opened a case against her for her alleged involvement in the trafficking of 17 South African men lured to Ukraine under false pretences.
According to IOL, SAPS spokesperson Brigadier Athlenda Mathe confirmed that Zuma-Mncube opened a case at the Sandton Police Station against Duduzile and two other unnamed individuals. Zuma-Mncube has accused Zuma-Sambudla of being responsible for the men who are trapped in Donbas.
Case escalated to Hawks
Mathe said that the case was escalated to the Crimes Against the State (CAT) component of the Hawks for further investigation. Thuthu Zuma, one of Zuma's daughters, said that the situation has left the family in distress. In a statement, Zuma-Mncube, the former president's eldest daughter, called on the government to speed up diplomatic efforts to return the men unharmed.
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How were they lured to Donbas?
Zuma-Sambudla is accused of sending the 17 men to Ukraine under the guise of receiving training as bodyguards. They were expected to be trained as bodyguards who would be employed by the uMkhonto WeSizwe (MK) Party.
Duduzile was accused of recruiting South Africans and Botswana nationals to fight for Russia in the Russia-Ukraine war. When they arrived in Donbas, they signed contracts in Russian and were sent to the front lines to fight. One of the men alleged that the military training programme was never a programme to begin with.
Zuma wrote to Russia's Minister of Defence Andrey Belousov on 19 September. He pleaded for the men to be returned home. He pointed out that they received three weeks of training before they were sent to the combat zone.
164 WhatsApp groups coordinated July unrest
In a related article, Briefly News reported that more than 150 WhatsApp groups were used to coordinate the July 2021 unrest. This was revealed at Zuma-Sambudla's trial at the Durban High Court in KwaZulu-Natal. Zuma-Sambudla stands accused of terrorism charges relating to the unrest in which over 300 people died.
On the first day of the trial on 10 November, the court heard from Brigadier Gopaul Govender, the Hawks' Provincial Head in Limpopo, who was the national coordinator for the investigation. Govender said that the WhatsApp messages were used to communicate with ground forces at a high level.
Source: Briefly News
