A daughter of South Africa’s former President Jacob Zuma has been sworn into parliament, less than a fortnight after her half-sister was forced to step down.
Brumelda Zuma became one of South Africa’s newest MPs on Wednesday, representing uMkhonto weSizwe (MK), the opposition party led by her father.
Her half-sister, Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla, resigned from parliament following allegations that she had tricked 17 men into fighting for Russia as mercenaries in Ukraine. Zuma-Sambudla has denied these accusations.
Brumelda Zuma’s appointment suggests the former president intends to ensure his family is represented in parliament.
She was sworn in alongside three other MK members, who, the party said, “bring a wealth of experience and dedication” to parliament.
She said she would focus mostly on ensuring that South Africans had “good public services” because “that is what I studied”.
MK said Brumelda Zuma had a degree in public administration.
Brumelda Zuma has not previously had a national profile, unlike her half-sister who had represented South Africa in the Pan-African Parliament.
MK previously said it was Zuma-Sambudla’s decision to resign as she wanted to focus her efforts on ensuring the return of those trapped in Ukraine’s war-torn Donbas region.
She was implicated in the Russia recruitment scheme after South Africa’s government revealed it had received distress calls from more than a dozen citizens who had joined mercenary forces.
The men are aged between 20 and 39 and are trapped in Donbas.
One of Zuma-Sambudla’s most prominent accusers is another half-sister, Nkosazana Zuma-Mncube.
Zuma-Mncube filed a criminal complaint against Zuma-Sambudla and two other people, accusing them of luring the men to Russia “under false pretences” and then handing them to a Russian mercenary group “without their knowledge or consent”.
She said that eight of them were her relatives.
Police have confirmed they are carrying out an investigation.
Working as a mercenary or fighting for another army is illegal under South African law, unless the government authorises it.
Zuma-Sambudla has said in an affidavit that she thought the men were going to Russia for “lawful” training.
She is currently also on trial on terrorism-related charges over social media messages she posted during deadly protests in 2021. She has denied the charges.
Jacob Zuma formed MK in 2023 after a massive fall-out with current President Cyril Ramaphosa.
The MK party came in third place in South Africa’s general election last year, and became the main opposition party in parliament after the second-biggest party joined a coalition government led by Ramaphosa.
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