South African Bodyguard Lured to Russia With a Training Promise - Comes Home Missing a Leg

Lifa Miya, a 40-year-old former VIP bodyguard from Durban, flew home to South Africa this month missing a leg, after being recruited in early 2024 with promises of elite training and lucrative security contracts in Russia and sent to fight in Ukraine instead, according to a September 17 report by TimesLive's Chris Makhaye.

Recruited Through the MK Party

Miya spent 12 years working as a VIP bodyguard, including postings at the late Zulu King Zwelithini kaBhekuzulu's palaces, before he was drawn into the MK Party's network. He told TimesLive that reaching party leader Jacob Zuma required going through Siphokazi Xuma, who in early 2024 told him about a chance to travel to Russia, train for a "Special Task Force," and take up well-paid security work afterward.

22 Men on One Flight

In June 2024, Miya was one of 22 men - 20 South Africans and two from Botswana - who boarded a flight for Russia; the two Botswana men later died in Donbas, per TimesLive. He says the group trained for about two months before the "trap" closed in Rostov-on-Don, where they met Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla, then an MP and Zuma's daughter. Miya alleges she compelled them to sign Russian-language documents they could not read, then left with a grandson of Nelson Mandela and three others who were allowed to return home - while the rest, he says, were forced into the war zone.

A Drone While Digging a Trench

On December 12, Miya's unit was digging trenches for a Russian artillery position in Russian-controlled Donbas when a Ukrainian drone found them. He fired his rifle at it, but not before shrapnel tore into his foot. "It's a drone war. You fight with a drone, not humans," he told TimesLive. Doctors in Russia left much of the shrapnel inside him, and he says he was moved between hospitals repeatedly, fearing he would be targeted if he stayed too long in one place, as the wound worsened. Two months later, at a hospital in St Petersburg, he begged doctors to amputate rather than let it keep rotting. They did - thousands of kilometres from the front where he was hurt.

Forced Back to the Front to Get Released

Before Russian authorities would clear him to fly home, Miya says he was made to travel back to the Donbas front line - a one-legged man with an open wound - so his commanders could review his medical records and sign off on his release.

A Campaign From Home

While Miya fought to survive, his wife took his case to South Africa's Department of International Relations and Cooperation (Dirco), to churches, and to the media; a WhatsApp group formed by families of the other recruits pushed in parallel, and his wife received death threats over it, per TimesLive. Miya credits President Cyril Ramaphosa, Dirco minister Ronald Lamola, and other officials with securing his return, saying it was Ramaphosa's direct call to Russian officials asking to "get those people back" that made it possible. He is now cooperating with a South African investigation into the recruitment scheme, and wants Zuma-Sambudla and the other recruiters he named prosecuted for allegedly luring men under false pretences. Zuma-Sambudla resigned her parliamentary seat after the scheme was exposed and has denied wrongdoing, telling TimesLive she was deceived as well.

Miya's case adds to a pattern of South Africans recruited into Russia's war that we've covered before, including Mvuyisi Mredlana, who was killed in a drone strike after being recruited for what he thought was a driving job, and Sihle Makhaye, who died in Russian detention after refusing to sign a military contract once he arrived.

Scrutinise These Thoroughly

Miya's warning to other South Africans, per TimesLive, is to scrutinise lucrative job offers abroad "thoroughly" before accepting them. South Africans and other foreign nationals who find themselves misled into Russia's armed forces have an option to safely escape the battlefield with Ukraine's "I Want to Live" project. Also see our FAQ on how to safely surrender to Ukrainian forces.