Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla at Durban Magistrate’s Court on January 30, 2025 in Durban, South Africa. PHOTO | AGENCIES
By Richard Lamu
When news broke a few weeks ago that Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla, daughter of former South African president Jacob Zuma, had resigned from parliament amid allegations she lured young men into Russia’s war on Ukraine, it sent shockwaves across Africa, with conversations about where else such schemes could be rampant.
Seventeen South African men, aged between 20 and 39, believed they were travelling abroad for high-paying jobs, but ended up on the front lines of a foreign war they neither understood nor had any stake in.
Their own government later confirmed they were victims of deceptive recruitment by agencies in the habit of advertising enticing jobs that never truly exist.
That this case reaches so close to the political elite of one of Africa’s strongest democracies should terrify all of us as it destroys the old assumption that trafficking networks operate only from the shadows.
Sadly, these schemes can now involve people with political connections, media power, and public influence. And this is no longer a story about South Africa; it is a warning to Tanzania.
A new era of exploitation
We like to believe that foreign mercenary recruitment is a fringe activity. But the Zuma case shows that trafficking has evolved. It is smarter, faster, and far more organised than what East Africa faced a decade ago.
The recruiters are no longer shady middle-aged men in bus stations. Now involved are public figures, online influencers like what we saw recently where some South African influencers apologised for marketing the Alabuga, business networks and fake recruitment agencies that are making a killing out of their schemes.
If someone as prominent as Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla is now under criminal investigation, it means these networks have become embedded in public life.
And Tanzania is a prime target. Tanzania has all the conditions that exploiters look for.
The truth is uncomfortable, but it must be said. Tanzania today has a large and restless youth population, rising unemployment, high cost of living and limited pathways for mobility. For thousands of young people, the idea of a foreign job is not a dream—it is an escape plan.
When hope at home is fragile, opportunity abroad feels like the only way out. And that desperation is exactly what traffickers rely on, hence promising free tickets to Europe, guaranteed jobs in places like Dubai and training programmes in Russia.
Most of these enticing opportunities sound legitimate and feel achievable, until the day someone realises they are holding a weapon in Donbas or assembling weapons in a factory in Tatarstan. This is a serious violation of human rights.
If it happened in South Africa, it can happen here
South Africa is not a fragile nation. It has strong institutions, laws, and media. Yet 17 young men were deceived and sent to war and now are calling for help to get back to their country.
And now, the daughter of a former president is implicated. If a country with all those safeguards can be infiltrated by this new wave of recruitment, then Tanzania must accept a harsh reality that we are even more vulnerable.
The warning since are already there. The death of Tanzanian student Nemes Tarimo, who went to study in Russia but was sent to fight a war against Ukraine after a prison sentence for a drug related offence, was dismissed as an isolated tragedy.
Now we know it was part of a larger pattern — one that links Nairobi, Pretoria, Dar es Salaam and Moscow. It is bigger than anyone thinks.
These traffickers are not guessing anymore; they are targeting specific countries at specific political moments.
Tanzania must act before we face the same headlines
The Zuma scandal should force Tanzanian leaders to rethink how we protect our youth. We need to:
1. Tight regulation of foreign recruitment agencies
2. Public campaigns warning about online job traps
3. Cross-border intelligence sharing
4. Investment in domestic job programmes and training
This is not about restricting migration. Our people have every right to seek better opportunities abroad whenever they feel like. The danger is forced migration disguised as employment — the kind that ends with someone trapped in another country with no money, no passport and no way back.
The real test after elections: Will Tanzania protect its youth?
The world has changed. War is now marketed like a job. Mercenary service is advertised like a scholarship. And traffickers no longer hide from the light; they thrive in it.
What happened in South Africa has already exposed the next phase of exploitation: political insiders, influencers and respected names being used to legitimise dangerous recruitment.
And the Zuma resignation proves one thing beyond doubt: Africa is entering a new era of transnational exploitation and therefore, Tanzania must not wait for its own citizens to become the next headlines.
Richard Lamu is a seasoned political analyst/journalist with interest in investigative and feature reporting
