South African women have warned of viral Russian videos to work

The South Africa government warns young women not to get into social media, encouraging to encourage opportunities for work abroad.

This comes as a number of online videos from South African social media influencing advertising jobs for young women in Russia have become viral.

Authorities are investigating a promotional video from Influencer Cyan Boujee, which has already been removed from her account. She describes a two -year Start program for young women at the beginning of her career who want to acquire professional skills.

A large number of young South Africans are unemployed and many of them are desperate for work.

In Boujee’s video – filmed in Tatarstan in Russia – viewers show the accommodation in which the recruits will stay.

Influenzer, whose real name is Honor Zuma, describes the program as a “fresh new start”, adding that “obviously girls are treated fairly here – Africans, Asians, Latinos.”

Boujee, who has 1.7 million Tiktok followers, also explains that employees will receive jobs and will be taught how to speak Russian.

It is unclear what professions young women will work, but the program advertises whole women aged 18 to 22 years.

There is no assumption that Boujee did something illegal and she did not respond directly to the criticism she had encountered over the weekend. One of her most recent posts on Instagram shows her on a plane, drinks champagne and says, “The legs stretched, champagne poured, the drama ignored.”

The South African government is “extremely worried” by the trend of influencing, which are used to promote jobs abroad, according to the head of the head of public diplomacy, Clason Monyela.

In the X publication, he warned young people, especially girls, “not to come across false offers for foreign work”, some of which have been promoted in social media.

“If something looks too good to be true, take a second opinion,” he writes.

There are allegations that some of the employees work in Tatarstan eventually work at a weapons factory, making drones that were used in the war of Russia in Ukraine.

One of the main recruits is a special economic zone in Tatarstan, where these weapons are thought to be manufactured.

A report of a global initiative against transnational organized crime, published in May, examined the recruitment of people for the Start program.

It states that “potential recruits are lured to participate in false claims about the nature of work, working conditions and opportunities for education”, adding that the aim is to support the “drone production program”.

Most work “directly in the production of drones, while others work as maintenance – cleaning products and eating establishments”.