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A Kranskop family is appealing for urgent help to bring home the body of a KwaZulu-Natal man who died in Russia after allegedly being lured abroad with false job promises
A grieving woman from Kranskop in northern KwaZulu-Natal says her life is a nightmare after learning of her husband’s death in Russia.
44-year-old, Sihle Makhaye was amongst a group of men allegedly recruited under false promises of job opportunities, abroad.
They were reportedly recruited in July by some unnamed individuals. While a number of them returned to South Africa in March. Makhaye died while waiting to come back home.
Makhaye’s distraught wife, Sibonile Ndwandwe, says that he had been promised a job as a security guard in Russia and had left his position in Gauteng in search of a better salary.
“When they got to Russia, the agent changed what was promised to them, they told them to change their citizenship, change their visas to Russian, that what he told me. The refused to change their citizenship and then they were arrested after refusing. They stayed there from the 30th of December when they arrived, and then on the 28th of March I received news of his passing,” says Ndwandwe.
Five people accused of illegally recruiting people to fight in the Russia, Ukraine war, are expected to return to the Kempton Park Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday. pic.twitter.com/03BGKdGnfA
— SABC News (@SABCNews) February 10, 2026
The family suspects that Makhaye did not receive proper medical care for his diabetes. His wife says he had told her he was not feeling well and was being attended to by a doctor.
Ndwandwe is now making a desperate plea to government authorities to help bring his body back home.
“I don’t agree with everything that the Russian authorities plan to do with his remains, but I do want to take the option of fetching his body. They said I can come get him. However I don’t have the means because I believe it is expensive fetching a dead body abroad,” she adds.
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The provincial government says it is in talks with the Minister of international relations to assist the family.
“At the level of MEC, he is engaging with the Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Ronald Lamola, with a view of getting guidance in terms of how we move forward,” says KwaZulu Natal Department of Transport and Human settlement spokesperson, Ndabezinhle Sibiya.
Sibiya says the Department of International Relations and Cooperation will hold a meeting on Monday to discuss the way forward, in an effort to help get Makhaye’s remains returned to his family.
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