South African presidential intervention paved the way for four South Africans, apparently recruited to be part of the ongoing Russia/Ukraine conflict, to return home.
The four – whose names have not yet been made public – are reportedly part of a 17-strong group who seemingly thought they were signing up for VIP protection training in July last year only to find themselves actively involved in the war which started when Russia invaded the Ukraine in February 2022. The “recruitment” resulted in a Hawks investigation which saw five arrests and a single appearance in the Kempton Park Magistrates’ Court in December.
The investigation by the SA Police Service’s (SAPS’s) Specialised Crimes Against the State section was under the auspices of South Africa’s Regulation of Foreign Military Assistance Act (1998) prohibiting mercenary activity and regulating South African military assistance to foreign countries.
The plight of the South Africans, who reportedly found themselves in conflict zones of Ukraine’s North Donetsk region, was made public in November after contact with family members.
South African media reports have it the four men returned to South Africa on Wednesday, landing at OR Tambo International Airport. Their return was apparently prompted, in part, by a telephone conversation between Vladimir Putin and his South African counterpart, Cyril Ramaphosa, on 10 February. A Presidency statement, issued post the phone call, has it both leaders “pledged” support to returning the South Africans fighting alongside Russian forces in Ukraine. Teams from both countries, according to the statement, continue engagements to finalise their return.
On the return, the SA Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) reports International Relations and Co-operation Minister Ronald Lamola saying the process was a difficult one and “remains a challenging one for the ones who are still in the front line because they are alleged to have been lured by a private security contractor to the Russian government”.
“That really complicates the situation because they were not, according to the Russian government, recruited directly to the Russian army. Because of that sensitivity and the difficulties, we had to escalate the matter to the President of the Russian Federation and he has been [very] helpful in supporting our efforts to return the South Africans,” Lamola reportedly told the TV news service of the national broadcaster.
Efforts are still ongoing to facilitate the return of the other 13 South Africans still believed to be in the region. A family member told Agence France Presse (AFP) that 11 other men — including one who lost a leg — were travelling by bus from Ukraine to Russia and are expected to return to South Africa over the weekend.
Wednesday’s four returnees were placed in police custody on arrival, as the law prohibits citizens from taking part in foreign armed conflicts without authorisation.
