"We just want to go home." A South African citizen recounted how former President Zuma's daughter tricked him into fighting on Russia's side in Ukraine.

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A 40-year-old man is sending his family voice messages. They are full of despair. He says he was tricked into the war and desperately wants to go home, writes the BBC.

The BBC is not disclosing his identity for security reasons. In this article, he is referred to as Sipho, and his brother, who is in South Africa and trying to help him return home, is Ksolani.

"He lives in constant fear because he doesn't know what awaits him and how the night will pass, because they are in a war zone," says Ksolani.

The BBC has listened to the voice messages Sipho sent to his family. He says he was recruited by two people, one of whom is Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla, daughter of former South African President Jacob Zuma, who now leads the country's main opposition party uMkhonto weSizwe (MK; in Zulu, the name means "Spear of the Nation"). Zuma-Sambudla denies deliberately misleading people and says she herself was a victim of deception and manipulation and is now "deeply shocked" by what happened.

"They [alleged recruiters] even bought us plane tickets so we could get here [to Russia]," Sipho says in one of the messages.

Ksolani says his brother left South Africa on July 8, thinking he was going to train as a bodyguard for the MK party.

The MK party was created in 2023. It is named after the now defunct military wing of the ruling African National Congress (ANC), which fought the racist apartheid system in South Africa. Zuma was a long-time member of the ANC, but then left it after a serious conflict with his successor Cyril Ramaphosa, and before the parliamentary elections he created his own party, which took third place in the elections.

The sister of another South African who ended up in the war told the BBC that her brother was recruited to undergo "counterintelligence" and "security" training for the MK - he agreed to this offer because he was unemployed.

He did not expect to find himself on the battlefield under the command of Russians.

"They are treated like slaves, they are ordered what to do, and if they don't obey, they are threatened," she tells the BBC.

According to Ksolani, a group of South Africans, including his brother, were given contracts to sign upon arrival in Russia. The documents were in Russian, which they did not know. They turned to Zuma-Sambudla, an MK party MP, and another alleged recruiter for help - Ksolani named the person. Both Zuma-Sambudla and the second person came to Russia, and their presence, Ksolani believes, convinced the group to sign the contract because they trusted them.

In a voice message, Sipho says that he and the rest of the group were sent to Ukraine in early August. They were then separated, and he ended up among those who ended up in Donetsk.

"We are near the front line, about 10 km from it," he said.

The BBC has reviewed a screen recording of a WhatsApp group chat where some of these South Africans were corresponding.

"We were told we were going to a safe place, but we went even deeper into hell. And when we arrived, there were three drone attacks," one of them wrote.

"If anything happens, guys... see you later," another wrote.

At one point, a contact named Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla was added to the chat.

This person tried to reassure them: "Hang in there, we are doing everything we can."

The BBC tried to contact the subscriber using this phone number, but no one answered. In WhatsApp, where the BBC also sent a message to this person, the account on this number had a photo of Zuma-Sambudla in its profile.

South African authorities have previously reported receiving "distress signals" from their citizens who found themselves in the war zone in Ukraine as a result of deception. They promised to act through "diplomatic channels" to bring them home, but this has not yet happened. There have been no further comments from the government since the statement was published earlier this month.

On November 19, Bloomberg, citing its sources, reported that South Africans were being recruited into the Russian army by MP Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla, daughter of the former president. It later became known that her paternal sister, 43-year-old Nkosazana Zuma-Mnkube, had also filed a complaint against her. She accused her of recruiting 17 men. After that, Zuma-Sambudla also filed a statement.

On Tuesday, an elite South African police unit, the Hawks, confirmed that it had received statements from both women. The Hawks did not provide any details, but said that "both cases are being investigated jointly to determine whether any crimes, including possible human trafficking, illegal recruitment, exploitation or fraud, have occurred."

The BBC has seen a copy of an affidavit - a written statement under oath - which, according to local media, was given by Zuma-Sambudla. In it, she does not deny that she participated in recruiting people to travel to Russia, but claims that she believed it was about "legitimate" training.

"I was not a recruiter, agent, operator or intermediary in any illegal activity," she claims.

The BBC has also seen a statement filed with the police by Zuma-Mnkube. She claims that her sister and two other men (she names them) "under false pretenses" lured 17 South Africans to Russia and handed them over to a "Russian mercenary group" that sent them to fight in Ukraine "without their knowledge or consent."

"Among these 17 men who are asking the South African government for help, eight are members of my family," Zuma-Mnkube's statement said.

Zuma-Sambudla's testimony states that she herself underwent non-combat training in Russia. She was contacted by an organizer, whom she said she did not know until that moment, and offered to recruit more people - as she thought, to participate in a similar program. After that, she "naively shared information" with other people, including family members.

"I would never knowingly put my family or any other person in danger under any circumstances," the affidavit said.

According to her, it was a "deep shock and stress" for her to realize that people were being lured into the war in this way.

"I myself have been a victim of deception, misrepresentation and manipulation," Zuma-Sambudla adds.

Jacob Zuma's daughter is already on trial on charges related to terrorism and treason.

She is being prosecuted for social media statements made four years ago during unrest in South Africa following her father's arrest: he refused to participate in an investigation into corruption during his presidency. The protests led to arson and looting and claimed the lives of at least 300 people. Zuma-Sabudla is accused of inciting these riots, but she calls the charges politically motivated.

Jacob Zuma was sentenced to 15 months in prison, but did not serve his prison term and was released on parole due to prison overcrowding.

According to Bloomberg, several people were recruited in a similar way in neighboring Botswana.

One of the voice messages listened to by the BBC says that there were initially 24 South African recruits, but three were returned to Russia because they were found to be medically unfit.

Another voice message says that one of the South Africans who was forced to stay in Ukraine was injured, possibly by shrapnel, and his whereabouts are unknown.

Ksolani says that sometimes there is no news from his brother for five days because he is busy with "military affairs."

"The family is worried about his life," he says.

In voice messages sent to his family, Sipho repeats the same thing over and over again: "It's hard here... we all just want to go home."

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