JOHANNESBURG - An SABC radio presenter is at the centre of an international scandal.
Nonkululeko Mantula and four other accused appeared in the Kempton Park Magistrate's court yesterday and were granted bail.
Mantula is accused of recruiting South Africans to fight for Russia in the war against Ukraine.
Four suspects were arrested at OR Tambo International Airport by the Hawks following a tip-off.
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Defence analyst Helmoed Heitman has painted a grim picture of the condition's the other side especially if they're actually going anywhere near the front lines.
"It's a messy war, so it's high casualty rates on both sides, but particularly on the Russian side. Some might gather from what they reported back to their families here were working with artillery.
"But that's not a safe place to be because artillery is hunted by drones. (0:18) So it's a pretty high-risk thing to get into," Heitman explains.
He also flagged how it is not clear to what extent there's decent medical support for them if they got wounded, for instance.
"Would they be evacuated back to South Africa? Would they be treated in Russia? Or would they just be left on the battlefield to expire? That's not clear at all. It's a particularly brutal war at the moment."
Heitman says this issue has brought to light internal issues within the country, those being issue of the economy.
A similar concern raised by various analyst who have spoke to eNCA claiming they could have been enticed by money and opportunities.
"People are looking for something to do somewhere. They get offered a big salary or they get offered training for some future career. They will leap at it. You can't really blame them,"
Speaking on whether or not he remains confident that South African authorities are able to crack down on these sort of activities, he says hope remains there.
This is evident following the operation at O.R Tambo