‘Not our war’: African families search for relatives recruited to Russia

AFP

What started as an attempt to find better opportunities has left families across southern Africa anxiously waiting for sons and husbands who travelled to Russia and later found themselves fighting in the war against Ukraine. In Zimbabwe, South Africa and Botswana, relatives say some men were misled about the opportunities they had been offered, while authorities have warned that recruitment efforts are continuing.

The cases have also raised concerns over the continued activity of recruiters. In Zimbabwe, five suspected agents are facing human trafficking charges.

Zimbabwe family waits for son’s remains

Rodwin Chitewere learnt that her son Tanaka Muzirikazi had travelled to Russia only after a relative noticed a change in his WhatsApp status. Muzirikazi, who would have turned 23 this month, had left his village in eastern Zimbabwe with his cousin Dylan Goodho in April.

Chitewere lived 350 kilometres (220 miles) away in Beitbridge. After her son’s departure, someone in Russia contacted the family to say he had suffered injuries in a drone attack.

“We need God’s grace to see if he recovers because it was bad,” the person said in a voice note shared with AFP.

The family received another message in July, this time informing them that Muzirikazi had died.

“I just want him brought home. I need closure,” his mother said. “I want to give my son a dignified burial. I am deeply pained.”

Zimbabwe’s foreign ministry told the family in July that it had sent their request for repatriation to the country’s embassy in Russia.

Cousin believed he was travelling for work

Dylan Goodho’s family also believed he was leaving Zimbabwe for a job opportunity. His father, an artisanal miner, thought the 23-year-old would work as a car import agent in Tanzania and borrowed money to cover police clearance certificates, medical examinations and other costs.

“It looked like a genuine opportunity,” Vharance Goodho said.

Dylan told his family only after reaching Russia that he had become a soldier. He later sent $1,500 home and said he was sending back a vehicle. His family last heard from him in May.

His mother, Fadzai Chikove, has urged him to return.

“Dylan, if you ever hear this message, please come back home. You cannot be fighting a war that is not ours,” she said.

Zimbabwe had announced the previous month that 15 of its nationals had died on “foreign battlefields”, while more than 60 others remained on the front lines, according to figures released in March.

South Africans also caught up in war

The same pattern has emerged in South Africa. The government said in February that at least two South Africans had died while fighting in Russia and that 15 had returned home that month. Others remained there.

A Ukrainian government website tracking Russian recruitment said last month that 10 South Africans had died.

One returnee told AFP that he had no military experience before entering the war and had “never been so afraid”.

“All of a sudden you see and hear bombs, drones flying overhead,” he said.

Another South African man in his 20s said he received only two sessions with a psychologist despite being promised trauma counselling.

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“We are left in the lurch, without any money, any means of support, just only the scars from the war,” he said.

A South African woman, who spoke anonymously, said her husband lost a leg when a drone struck his convoy on the front line. She hoped he would return in the coming months.

Botswana mother has no word on son

In Botswana, the government warned in July about an “alarming” number of men allegedly being misled into joining the war.

One mother has spent nearly a year without knowing what happened to her 20-year-old son after he travelled to Russia with a friend in July last year.

“I don’t know if they are alive or not,” she said on condition of anonymity.

She believes the two men were misled by Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla, the daughter of former president Jacob Zuma, under the pretext of attending a personal development course in Russia.

Zuma-Sambudla resigned as a parliamentarian in December after police said they were investigating allegations that she had lured men to the Russian war. AFP was unable to reach her for comment.

The mother has repeatedly contacted the South African government seeking help.

“I just want my child back home,” she said.

She also wants legal action against those she believes were responsible.

“We were raised with, ‘It’s an eye for an eye’. So now I want that woman to be tried,” she said.

More than 1,400 Africans reportedly recruited

The cases form part of a wider recruitment picture. In mid-February, the All Eyes on Wagner collective published the names of more than 1,400 Africans it said Moscow had recruited between January 2023 and September 2025.

The group said more than 300 of those recruits had died.