{"id":94374,"date":"2025-12-16T16:44:27","date_gmt":"2025-12-16T16:44:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/pretoria-engages-moscow-for-return-of-south-africans"},"modified":"2025-12-16T17:10:20","modified_gmt":"2025-12-16T17:10:20","slug":"pretoria-engages-moscow-for-return-of-south-africans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/pretoria-engages-moscow-for-return-of-south-africans","title":{"rendered":"Pretoria Engages Moscow for Return of South Africans"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; South-Africa. <\/strong><\/span>The South African government has affirmed that the safety of 17 South Africans currently in Russia remains a top priority, as diplomatic discussions continue with Russian authorities to facilitate their return home.<\/p>\n<p>The group was allegedly lured to Russia last month by MK Party member Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla. According to reports, they were recruited under the false promise of receiving specialised training to serve as party bodyguards.<\/p>\n<p>However, the government has since confirmed that the men have been stationed on the Russian front lines, a development that has raised serious concerns regarding their immediate safety and well-being.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking at a media briefing in Pretoria on Monday, Presidency spokesperson Vincent Magwenya confirmed that Pretoria is actively engaging with Moscow to resolve the situation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey are in a dangerous environment and are facing grave danger. We are still in discussions with various authorities, both in Russia and in Ukraine, to see how we can free them from the situation. In fact, the emphasis is more on the authorities in Russia,\u201d Magwenya stated.<\/p>\n<p>Magwenya emphasised that the government has not abandoned its efforts to secure the group\u2019s safe return.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt remains an issue of priority for the government as well as the President, and it is a matter receiving the highest possible attention within our government,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">South-Africa<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; South-Africa. The South African government has affirmed that the safety of 17 South Africans currently in Russia remains a top priority, as diplomatic discussions continue with Russian authorities to facilitate their return home. The group was allegedly lured to Russia last month by MK Party member Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla. According to reports, they were [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":94373,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[275],"class_list":["post-94374","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-south-africa-2"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Pretoria Engages Moscow for Return of South Africans - South Africa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The South African government has affirmed that the safety of 17 South Africans currently in Russia remains a top priorit ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/pretoria-engages-moscow-for-return-of-south-africans\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pretoria Engages Moscow for Return of South Africans\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The South African government has affirmed that the safety of 17 South Africans currently in Russia remains a top priorit ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/pretoria-engages-moscow-for-return-of-south-africans\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"South Africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-12-16T16:44:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-12-16T17:10:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2025\/12\/sm_1765892172.28779.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/pretoria-engages-moscow-for-return-of-south-africans#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/pretoria-engages-moscow-for-return-of-south-africans\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Pretoria Engages Moscow for Return of South Africans\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-16T16:44:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-12-16T17:10:20+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/pretoria-engages-moscow-for-return-of-south-africans\"},\"wordCount\":234,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/pretoria-engages-moscow-for-return-of-south-africans#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2025\/12\/sm_1765892172.28779.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"South-Africa\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/pretoria-engages-moscow-for-return-of-south-africans#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/pretoria-engages-moscow-for-return-of-south-africans\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/pretoria-engages-moscow-for-return-of-south-africans\",\"name\":\"Pretoria Engages Moscow for Return of South Africans - 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