JOHANNESBURG – Bellarmine Chatunga Mugabe (28), the youngest son of the late President Robert Mugabe, will appear at the Alexandra Magistrate’s Court on Monday charged with attempted murder for allegedly shooting his gardener.
On Thursday police swarmed his Hyde Park residence in Johannesburg following reports of a shooting and arrested both Mugabe and another man aged 33.
The victim, a 23-year-old man, was bleeding from a gunshot wound and was subsequently rushed to hospital where his condition was described as critical.
Gauteng police spokesperson Dimakatso Nevhuhulwi confirmed the recvery of a spent cartridge and said a dog unit had been called to help them locate the gun used in the shooting.
“The victim is a gardener and apparently he did not come to work for sometime and there was an altercation regarding that. The victim was shot once,” Nevhuhulwi told journalists at the scene.
Mugabe was arrested twice in Zimbabwe last year — once for disorderly conduct at a police roadblock and once for assault after allegedly leading armed men to attack illegal gold panners on a farm in Mazowe.
His brother, Robert Jnr, has also been arrested multiple times for offenses including assault, drug possession, and property damage.
Meanwhile political analyst Dr Gideon Chitanga is quoted by the IOL news website saying there are no legal grounds for Chatunga to claim diplomatic immunity.
He explained that immunity is not inherited and does not apply to family members of former heads of state, especially in criminal matters.
Since Robert Mugabe is deceased and no treaty covers such a situation, the Vienna Convention cannot be invoked.
Chitanga added that Mugabe’s family members in South Africa live as private individuals, not government representatives, and are therefore subject to the law like anyone else.
