Online Reporter
KNOWN for always trending for all the wrong reasons, Cyan Boujee has never shied away from the spotlight or public scrutiny — and her involvement in the Russia-alleged human trafficking syndicate is no exception.Cyan Boujee, whose real name is Honour Zuma, recently appeared on the L-Tido podcast, where she opened up about her involvement in the Russia Alabuga Start Programme, a controversial initiative she and many well-known influencers promoted on their social media accounts.
The programme was marketed as a unique opportunity for women aged 18 to 22 from around the world, offering free flights, accommodation, and high-paying jobs in Russia.
However, many people suspected it was linked to human trafficking, and after the Department of International Relations & Co-operation (Dirco) confirmed it indeed was a scam, the backlash was swift.
“Influencers have been mobilised to promote these opportunities that look very good on paper. People are promised jobs in catering or hospitality with regular promotions, salary increases, but the reality is that when they get there, the conditions are completely opposite to what they were promised.
We’ve had a case of one young South African woman who reached out to our embassy in Moscow after landing in that particular country and realising that what they were promised wasn’t true.”
“She’s back in the country now. We’ve had to work with her family to bring her back. The challenge though, is that when these young people fall for the scams, they don’t come check with us.
They don’t inform us; we only collide with the information when they discover that they’re in trouble. So that’s why we thought it was important to issue the warning,” said the representative from Dirco in the interview with Bongani from 702 FM.
Cyan admitted to not doing her research before signing on to promote the programme and expressed regret over her involvement. She also shared that the experience left her with anxiety and a loss of dignity.
The controversy cost her her professional and personal brand; she revealed that several brand deals have cut ties with her, and her TikTok account, which had approximately 1,7-1,8 million followers, has been banned.
“I lost a lot. I lost some dignity. I have a lot of anxiety. I lost my TikTok account. This is a huge learning curve for me. But more than anything, I’m a victim.
Even if I’m sorry for not doing my homework and not being able to represent myself properly in the situation. I still believe I’m a victim, and I hope that everyone else learns from this situation because it was bad for everyone, my team, and my family.
Everyone received backlash, not just me.”
Despite having now created a new TikTok account, Cyan said that the response from the public was indicative of their ongoing efforts to make her a villain, no matter what.
“I’ve always been a villain in every situation. The Prince Kaybee situation, I was a victim. That was revenge porn. I was a victim.
I needed the community to come together to stand for me.
But in that situation, I had people throwing things at me while I was performing,” she said.
Cyan revealed on her YouTube channel that she had concerns about the programme as early as July, citing red flags and unprofessional conduct by the project’s organisers.
She also shared a voice note she sent to a manager expressing her worries about the treatment of young women in the programme.
“More than anything, I’m worried about the kids. I’m worried so much about the kids because when I interviewed them, most of them were not happy, especially with the answers they had to give on camera,” she said in the voice note.
During the shoot of her promotional video, which has since been deleted, she said one girl had to be coerced into giving approved answers.
“When I asked one of them how things were going, if she was happy with her accommodation and if her roommates were being nice to her, she just cried. I was in disbelief because she was not happy.
We had to wait for so long for her to calm down so she could lie and say everything was good.” — @DrumMagazine
