reported<\/a> that firms from Russia, including one that\u2019s been accused of tricking young women into working in a military drone assembly plant, were targeting South Africa to recruit labour.<\/p>\n\n\n\nRussia\u2019s aging and shrinking population, coupled with the loss of hundreds of thousands of men to the front line in Ukraine and a spike in salaries, has left a hole in the labor market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the same time, a third of the workforce in South Africa is unemployed. But while the economics might make sense, the recruitment push is drawing increasing scrutiny.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Alabuga Start, a recruitment arm of Russia\u2019s Alabuga Special Economic Zone, has been expanding a push it began in 2023 to hire women between the ages of 18 and 22 from Africa, Latin America and Southeast Asia. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Three research reports from groups including the Institute for Science and International Security have alleged that the young women end up working in a drone factory regularly bombed by Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Women are viewed as more reliable than men for the specific kind of work, according to ISIS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe so-called work opportunities advertised on social media for positions in Russia are not facilitated with any government intervention,\u201d the Ministry in the Presidency for Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities said in a statement on Monday. \u201cWe urge our young people to be vigilant.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The ministry said it will \u201cengage stakeholders\u201d including the Russian Embassy in South Africa and local groups recruiting on behalf of Alabuga about the program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe Embassy has taken note of the growing concerns around the Alabuga Start program, triggered by the Bloomberg article,\u201d Russia\u2019s embassy in South Africa said in a statement on X that linked back to its website. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe embassy has no information, apart from that spread through some biased outlets, of foreign nationals being subjected to forced labor, tricked into some actions, or otherwise experiencing violation of their rights in the course of the program.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Sunday, Clayson Monyela, head of public diplomacy at South Africa\u2019s foreign ministry, cautioned against accepting \u201cunverified foreign job offers\u201d in a post on X. He didn\u2019t mention Russia or Alabuga by name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His ministry last week said it was aware of the Alabuga program and \u201cis actively investigating reports of foreign programs that recruit South Africans under false pretenses.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Monyela said Monday morning in an interview on 702 Talk Radio that his ministry had helped return one South African woman to the country after she contacted the embassy in Moscow \u201cafter realising what was promised wasn\u2019t true.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe are extremely worried,\u201d he said. \u201cInfluencers have been mobilized to promote these opportunities that look very good on paper.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The ministry for women in South Africa\u2019s presidency has cautioned citizens against accepting offers of jobs in Russia.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":835980,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[23459,5309,853],"class_list":["post-835979","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-minister-of-women-youth-and-persons-with-disabilities","tag-russia","tag-south-africa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/835979","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=835979"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/835979\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":835981,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/835979\/revisions\/835981"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/835980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=835979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=835979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=835979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}