Illustrative Image: Servicemen of the 13th Brigade of the National Guard of Ukraine attend military training in the Kharkiv area on 17 May. (Photo: Sergey Kozlov / EPA) | Hawks Logo (Image: Wikicommons) | Handcuffs (Photo: Freepik) 
The case against five suspects arrested on charges in connection with the recruitment of South Africans to fight as mercenaries for the Russian armed forces has been postponed to Monday, 8 December, for a formal bail application.
A senior broadcaster at the SABC radio station SAfm, Nonkululeko Mantula (39), and her four co-accused, Xolani Ntuli (46), Thulani Mazibuku (24), Siphamdla Chabalala (23), and Sfiso Mabena (21), appeared in the Kempton Park Magistrates’ Court on Monday, 1 December.
They have been charged with contravening the Regulation of Foreign Military Assistance Act (RFMAA), 15 of 1998.
/file/attachments/orphans/pic12_872406.jpg "SAfm radio presenter Nonkululeko Mantula. (Photo: Nonkululeko Mantula / Facebook)")
“The State requested a seven-day postponement to allow for the verification of the accuseds’ residential addresses,” said the National Prosecuting Authority’s Gauteng spokesperson, Phindi Mjonondwane, on Monday.
On Friday, 28 November, the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks) arrested four South African men at Johannesburg’s OR Tambo International Airport, en route to Russia via the United Arab Emirates. They were suspected of having been recruited to fight in Russia’s military.
Hawks spokesperson Colonel Katlego Mogale on Saturday said the men were arrested after the OR Tambo South African Police Service flagged their behaviour as suspicious. They were referred to the Hawks’ Crimes Against the State unit.
“[A] preliminary investigation revealed that a South African female had been facilitating the travel and recruitment of these individuals into the Russian Federation military,” said Mogale.
In a separate statement on Sunday, Mogale said the Hawks had arrested a fifth suspect — Mantula — in connection with the case.
She was arrested at OR Tambo International on Thursday morning for her role in facilitating the travel and the recruitment of the four men into the Russian armed forces, according to a News24 report.
#sapsHAWKS [UPDATE] The five accused, Nonkululeko Mantula (39), Thulani Mazibuko (24), Xolani Ntuli (47), Siphamandla Tshabalala (23) and Sfiso Mabena (21) have appeared before the Kempton Park Magistrate's Court facing charges of contravention of Regulation of Foreign Military… pic.twitter.com/qTnqPFBZil
— SA Police Service 🇿🇦 (@SAPoliceService) December 1, 2025
The Regulation of Foreign Military Assistance Act prohibits South African citizens from providing military assistance to foreign armed forces without the permission of the National Conventional Arms Control Committee. The Act also precludes citizens from recruiting, using or training persons for mercenary activity.
Penalties for contravening the Act include a fine or imprisonment, or both.
Mantula is a co-chair of the BRICS Journalists Association and a Global Fact-Checking Network (GFCN) expert, among other things. She is also a writer, TV presenter, actress and voice-over artist, according to her SAfm profile.
She was in Russia twice this year to attend two conferences, according to the GFCN. Reporters Without Borders has labelled the GFCN as Russian propagandists.
“The SABC can confirm that it is aware of the matter involving a freelance radio presenter,” SABC spokesperson Mmoni Ngubane told Daily Maverick on Monday. “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.”
Russia recruitment scandal
The arrests of the five individuals come amid continued reports of 17 South African men who were allegedly duped into fighting for Russia in Ukraine’s war-torn Donbas region.
News24 first reported that the men were lured under the pretext of “bodyguard training” in Russia, allegedly by former president Jacob Zuma’s daughter, Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla, and others associated with the uMkhonto Wesizwe (MK) party. The men were made to sign contracts written in Russian, which they did not understand, and forced into fighting on the front lines of the war in Ukraine.
/file/attachments/orphans/ED_544320_981375.jpg "Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla. (Photo: Darren Stewart / Gallo Images)")
On Friday, Zuma-Sambudla resigned from Parliament as an MP for the MK party with “immediate effect”. She automatically lost her membership in the Pan-African Parliament (PAP) because of this.
Zuma-Sambudla was head of the South African caucus in the PAP.
“The protocol is clear that our members have dual membership,” said PAP spokesperson Jeff Onganga. “Before you are a member of the Pan-African Parliament, you are first and foremost a member of your national Parliament.
“So your term of office at the [PAP] is dependent on your term of office in your national Parliament. So the moment you cease to be a member of your Parliament, you automatically lose your membership at the [PAP].”
The Hawks confirmed last week that an investigation into Zuma-Sambudla was under way, after her half-sister Nkosazana Zuma-Mncube filed criminal complaints of contravening the Prevention and Combating of Trafficking in Persons Act 7 of 2013 and the RFMAA, as well as fraud, against her.
Zuma-Sambudla has since filed a fraud case against a man named Blessing Khoza, whom she accused of co-recruiting the men into the war.
According to News24, Mogale said that while the investigation into Zuma-Sambudla was a separate matter, the Hawks would not rule out the possibility that the two cases might “verge”.
President Cyril Ramaphosa announced earlier this month that he had ordered an investigation into the circumstances that led to the recruitment of the 17 men into “seemingly mercenary activities”.
Ramaphosa’s spokesperson said on Saturday that Pretoria was handling the matter with “discretion and urgency,” according to News24. DM