parliament

Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla’s resignation comes amid an investigation into her role in luring South Africans to fight for Russia in war on Ukraine.

A daughter of former South African President Jacob Zuma has resigned from parliament amid allegations that she lured 17 men to fight as mercenaries in Russia’s war against Ukraine.

Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla’s resignation on Friday comes after police said she was under investigation for her alleged role in luring South Africans to Russia. The police announcement came after a group of men aged 20 to 39 ended up on the front lines of the conflict in Ukraine.

Zuma-Sambudla had served as a member of parliament since June 2024 for uMkhonto weSizwe (MK), an opposition party created by her father in 2023 following his expulsion from South Africa’s then-governing African National Congress.

“The national officials have accepted comrade Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla’s decision to resign and support her efforts to ensure that these young South Africans are brought back safely to their families,” the MK Party’s national chairperson, Nkosinathi Nhleko, told a news conference.

MK officials said Zuma-Sambudla’s resignation was voluntary and that her departure from the National Assembly and all other public roles was effective immediately.

The MK’s Nhleko also said that the party was not involved in luring the men to Russia and that Zuma-Sambudla’s resignation was not an admission of guilt, but added that MK would help support the families of the men stranded in Ukraine.

Zuma-Sambudla was present at the news conference but did not speak, and has not publicly responded to the accusations from her half-sister.

South Africa’s government said earlier this month that 17 of its citizens were stuck in Ukraine’s Donbas region after being tricked into fighting for mercenary forces under the pretext of lucrative employment contracts.

Then, last weekend, police said they would investigate Zuma-Sambudla after her half-sister made a formal request for the probe into her and two other people.

According to police, an affidavit submitted by Zuma-Sambudla’s half-sister, Nkosazana Bonganini Zuma-Mncube, alleged that Zuma-Sambudla and two other people tricked the South Africans into fighting by promising to provide them with security training in Russia. The identities of the other two people were unclear.

The affidavit alleges the South Africans were handed over to a Russian mercenary group and forced to fight in the conflict. It also says that eight of the 17 men were members of Zuma-Sambudla’s and Zuma-Mncube’s extended family.

South African presidential spokesperson Vincent Magwenya told Al Jazeera that the government had received “distress calls” from the group caught up in the Ukraine war, and authorities were “working ever so quietly” at all levels “to secure their safe return”.

“But also, there is an investigation that is ongoing, that’s looking at how they were recruited, who was involved, and what were they promised?” Magwenya said.

On Thursday, Jordan became the latest country to rebuke Russia for recruiting its citizens to fight, following the killing of two Jordanian nationals.

While Jordan did not specifically reference Russia’s war on Ukraine, the Jordanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it would “take all available measures” to end the further recruitment of Jordanians, and called for Moscow to terminate the contracts of its currently enlisted citizens.

Ukraine says Moscow has recruited at least 18,000 foreign fighters from 128 countries, according to figures shared by Ukrainian Brigadier General Dmytro Usov, who also said that almost 3,400 foreigners have died fighting for Russia.

Michael Appel, reporting for Al Jazeera from Johannesburg, said Zuma-Sambudla is seen as a divisive political figure in South Africa, and is already facing “serious charges” related to unrest in South Africa in 2021 that led to the deaths of hundreds of people.

She has denied any wrongdoing in that case and has pleaded not guilty to inciting violence through social media posts.

Australia’s High Court says government acted within its rights when it passed a law revoking 99-year lease for planned Russian embassy site.

Russia has lost a legal fight to build a new embassy near Australia’s Parliament, with the nation’s top court ruling that Canberra acted within its rights when it cancelled the lease for the site.

Australia passed legislation in 2023 to mothball the planned embassy building after officials deemed it to pose a security threat.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said at the time that his government decided to revoke the lease over the “specific risk” posed by the site, located about 300 metres (328 yards) from Parliament House.

Russia, which blasted the move as “Russophobic hysteria”, challenged the legislation in court, arguing that it was not valid under the Australian Constitution.

In a unanimous ruling on Wednesday, the High Court found that the cancellation of the lease had been a “valid exercise of the legislative power” to enact laws related to the acquisition of property.

The court, however, ruled that Russia was entitled to compensation after paying about $2m for the 99-year lease in 2008.

The court previously rejected a bid by Moscow to stop its officials from being evicted from the site.

The government introduced new legislation on June 15 to end the Russian lease on the land after intelligence agencies warned the location was a risk to national security.

In a statement following the ruling, Attorney General Michelle Rowland said, “Australia will always stand up for our values and we will stand up for our national security.”

“The government welcomes the High Court’s decision that found the government acted lawfully in terminating the Russian Embassy’s lease,” Rowland said in a statement.

“The government will closely consider the next steps in light of the court’s decision,” Rowland added.

The Russian embassy said it was studying the judgement, according to Australian broadcaster ABC News.

“The Russian side will carefully study the text of the court ruling, which sets a precedent,” an embassy official said in a statement.

Relations between Australia and Russia have been strained for years.

Ties deteriorated sharply after the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, which multiple investigations blamed on pro-Russian separatists, and then plunged further after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

#BREAKING: The lease was granted to Russia in 2008, but was withdrawn when parliament passed a new law citing ASIO advice that the planned embassy could pose a threat to national security. https://t.co/6S6bf37h7m

— ABC News (@abcnews) November 11, 2025

On Monday, Egyptians will head to the polls in the first of a two-phase process aimed at electing a new House of Representatives. Expatriates already voted on November 7 and 8.

Egypt has taken an increasingly proactive role regionally as of late, joining Qatar as a key negotiator for the ceasefire in Gaza. The country has also deployed Foreign Ministry representatives to Lebanon in recent weeks.

The elections for the House come on the back of last year’s Senate elections and are expected to be the final elections in President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s third term.

So why is this significant? Read on, and find out.

What is happening?

Monday will see the start of voting for the 596-member House of Representatives.

Of those seats, 284 are individual seats, while another 284 are filled via a closed party list system. Twenty-eight more members are appointed by presidential decree. A quarter of the seats must be held by women.

There are 70 counting committees, and voting will be conducted across 5,606 polling stations, according to Egyptian media. Fourteen governorates vote in the first phase and 13 vote in the second.

Results for the voting may not be fully known before the end of December.

Phase one includes the governorates of Alexandria, Assiut, Aswan, Beheira, Beni Suef, Fayoum, Giza, Luxor, Matrouh, Minya, New Valley, Qena, Red Sea, and Sohag.

Phase two includes Cairo, Daqahlia, Damietta, Gharbia, Ismailia, Kafr El-Sheikh, Menoufia, North Sinai, Port Said, Qalyubia, Sharqia, South Sinai, and Suez.

Phase one results will be announced on November 18.

If phase one requires run-offs, voting will be held internationally over the first two days of December and then in Egypt on December 3 and 4, with results announced on December 11.

Phase-two voting for Egyptians abroad will take place on November 21 and 22. Voting inside Egypt will take place on November 24 and 25, with results announced on December 2.

In case of phase-two run-offs, voting will take place on December 15 and 16 abroad and 17 and 18 inside Egypt, with the final results announced on December 25.

Who is running?

First, voting has to be broken down by “party-list constituencies” and individual candidates. Each group is competing for 284 seats.

The party-list constituencies in Egypt divide the country into four areas. Cairo and the Central and Southern Delta has 102 seats. North, Central, and South Upper Egypt has 102 seats. The Eastern Delta and Western Delta have 40 seats apiece.

Then, individual candidates are running for another 284 across 143 constituencies.

The electoral lists are closed, meaning that parties must be approved to run.

The current lists include 12 political parties plus the Coordination Committee of Parties’ Youth Leaders and Politicians, who will compete for the 284 party-list seats. The National List for Egypt, the Generation List, the Popular List, Your Voice for Egypt List, and the Egypt Call List are seen as some of the bigger parties running.

How did expat voting go?

Ahram Online reported that it went smoothly.

A total 139 electoral committees were set up in 117 countries. The Egyptian Foreign Ministry also set up 24-hour operation rooms in every mission to coordinate with the National Elections Authority in Cairo.

The round two vote is still set to take place in late November.

How long will House members serve?

Members of the House of Representatives serve five-year terms.

The current House was elected in late 2020 for a five-year term that expires in January 2026.

Why is this vote important?

President el-Sisi is in his third and, constitutionally, final term. In 2019, the Parliament of Egypt changed the constitution to allow him to serve until 2030, and there’s a widely held belief that Parliament could once again amend the constitution, allowing el-Sisi to extend his mandate.

In recent years, el-Sisi has worked to reshape Egypt by liberalising the economy, but many Egyptians are struggling with a rising cost of living and will likely be heading to the polls with the economy in mind.

Other important issues expressed by Egyptians include health and medical care, and a new rental law that threatens to evict millions living in rent-controlled properties.

Analysts say these elections could play a significant role in the country’s future, especially after the end of el-Sisi’s term.

“[T]he 2025 parliament will serve as both a legal and political instrument through which the Egyptian authorities channel key post-2030 decisions,” Halem Henish, a legal associate at the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy, wrote in October. “The composition of that parliament will directly reflect the Egyptian authorities’ intentions for the future.”