Parties that contracted SA men to fight for Russia declined to release them without payment – Ntshavheni

Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni said investigations are ongoing into allegations that R14 million was paid for the 17 South African men to fight for Russia without their knowledge.

On Thursday, Ntshavheni briefed the media on the outcomes from the Cabinet meeting held on 25 February 2026.

In November last year, the South African government received distress calls for assistance to return home from 17 South African men who were trapped in the war-torn Donbas, Ukraine.

The men, aged 20 to 39, who come from KwaZulu-Natal and one from the Eastern Cape, were lured to join mercenary forces involved in the Ukraine-Russia war under the pretext of lucrative employment contracts.

ALSO READ: 17 South African men trapped in Ukraine after being lured to join mercenary forces

Most of the men have returned to South Africa.

Under the Foreign Military Assistance Act of 1998, it is illegal for South African citizens or entities to offer or provide military assistance to foreign governments, or to participate in the armies of foreign governments, unless authorised by the South African government.

Engagement with families

Ntshavheni said Minister of International Relations, Ronald Lamola, went to KwaZulu-Natal on Thursday to meet with the families of the returnees.

“As part of our responsibility and consular service, we need to engage with the families. They are the ones who reached out to us to ask for support, to ask for assistance, to return their young men, who they alleged were trafficked to Russia without any money,” said Ntshavheni.

“So, as part of that engagement, as part of that feedback, it’s important that you look back to those who requested your assistance to say, here we are, but there are the following things that have to happen.

“The following things that must happen are the continuation of the investigations into the allegation, including the allegation made by the family, a family member, that R14 million was paid to a certain person by the Wagner Group for their sons to be taken to Russia to go to fight in a war that is not theirs.

“And therefore, it’s important that the minister also engage, but there are investigations that are ongoing to establish the facts, as we’ve indicated, in terms of what has happened, what has transpired.”

ALSO READ: 11 South Africans recruited to fight for Russia head home

Ntshavheni said the government knew that payments were made, and that the investigators would have to establish who received the money, for what purpose, and what they did with it.

“The Cabinet cannot have a view on those, but the investigations are ongoing.”

Payment needed for men in Russia to be released

Ntshavheni said when the South African delegation engaged with the Russians, “it became very clear” that the Russian government was not involved in the arrangements for the South African men to go there.

“But as the South African authorities, we could not have access to those people [who made the arrangements]. And part of the challenge was that these young men were made to sign contracts, and that bound them for a time period.

“And for those contracts to be signed, there were payments made. So the parties that contracted them declined to release them without payment. And it’s for that reason that President Cyril Ramaphosa went to President Vladimir Putin to say, ‘We accept that it is not the Russian government that has recruited South Africans, but we need your intervention to get our young people back’.

“As we’ve indicated in the statement, some of them have been injured, and we could not leave them dying in Russia. So, we brought them back through the intervention of the President of the Republic with President Putin. And that’s why we extended our appreciation.”