Critics have scrutinised influencers Cyan Boujee, Seemah Mangolwane, Aya Langa, and Siyamthanda Anita for their promotion of the Russian company Alabuga Start.
This news comes after several negative reports on the war factory resurfaced.
The Alabuga Start Programme has positioned itself as an opportunity for young women to make a living in a foreign country, earning the rouble currency, which is 0.22 to the rand.
They recruit girls aged 18 to 22 from Africa and other developing countries, including Asia and Latin America, and several former Soviet republics.
The girls are exempt from paying property rental and transport taxes and only pay the income tax of 2%. The programme has been running since 2023.
Red flags began to appear for South Africans after influencers Cyan Boujee and Seemah started posting about the programme on their social media platforms.
SA’s unemployment rate
The South African influencers are used as marketing tools to recruit the girls.
They visit Russia to record the content, spend three days on site, and use their social media platforms to promote the programme.
They are then compensated with an amount between R50 000 and R150 000.
According to Statistics South Africa, there are over 4.8-million young unemployed South Africans between the ages of 15 and 34 years old, equalling 46.1% youth unemployment.
An investigation by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime discovered the programme exploits young women who end up working in tough conditions at Russia’s war factories due to unemployment.
After investigating and interviewing 60 programme participants, it was revealed that the Alabuga production facility manufactures Geran-2 combat drones.
They discovered that the girls were handling harsh, hazardous, and potentially fatal chemicals.
When they are recruited, they are not informed in detail about the responsibilities. There are about 182 South Africans who have been recruited to date.
Everything went smoothly
Seemah, an influencer with over 2.8-million on TikTok and 1.4-million followers on Instagram, shared her story..
A digital marketing manager reached out to her for the job.
“I found the campaign appealing and saw it as a chance to travel abroad – why not?” she said. “Everything proceeded smoothly, including the receipt of the deposit and the purchase of plane tickets.”
When she arrived in Russia, she said everything went smoothly for three days. She also interviewed some of the girls working at the factory.
“They said they are going home for the holidays, and they are happy and fine. Everything seemed normal, so I was shocked.”
She took accountability for not doing enough research. “I apologise for being ignorant and putting young people’s lives in danger.”
Influencer Sasha Domnikoff said his management checked and approved the campaign before taking the job.
Nothing fishy about programme
Aya said there was nothing suspicious about the programme.
“They told me the trafficking rumours were not true, and my experience with them was not at all fishy,” said Aya.
Cyan Boujee has since removed the promotional videos but has not commented further on the situation.
The South African Department of International Relations and Cooperation has confirmed it will be conducting an investigation into the matter.
This came after social media users raised concerns about possible human trafficking related to the programme.
Alabuga Start had not responded at the time of publishing.
