Mugabe’s son ordered deported after guilty pleas in South Africa
Bellarmine Mugabe, the son of late Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe, was ordered deported from South Africa on Wednesday after he pleaded guilty to two criminal charges earlier this month, according to court proceedings reported by the Associated Press. Magistrate Renier Boshoff said Bellarmine Mugabe would be taken by police to an international airport in Johannesburg and sent back.
Boshoff’s ruling followed Bellarmine Mugabe’s guilty plea to two counts: brandishing an object that was “likely to lead a person to believe it is a firearm,” and being in South Africa illegally. The magistrate ordered him to pay around $36,000 in fines or serve two years in prison.
The court matter was tied to events earlier this year, when Bellarmine Mugabe and another man—his cousin—were arrested in February. The initial charges included attempted murder connected to the shooting of an employee at Mugabe’s home in Johannesburg, the reporting said. Police have not found the gun used in the incident.
In court, the magistrate addressed how the case would proceed under the specific guilty pleas before him. He told Bellarmine Mugabe, “I do not know whether the second accused took the rap for you,” adding that “Number two pleaded guilty on all these counts… and I can only act on what is before me.”
The other defendant, Tobias Matonhodze—identified as Bellarmine Mugabe’s cousin—also pleaded guilty, but to attempted murder over the shooting and other charges. Matonhodze was sentenced to three years in prison, and Boshoff ruled that Matonhodze will be deported to Zimbabwe after completing his sentence.
Bellarmine Mugabe is described as the youngest child of Robert Mugabe and his second wife, Grace Mugabe. Robert Mugabe led Zimbabwe for 37 years and became known as one of Africa’s longest-serving leaders before he was removed in a coup in 2017 and died two years later, at age 95.
The Mugabe family has also faced other criminal cases over the years. Grace Mugabe was accused in 2017 of assaulting a model by beating her with an electrical cord in the presence of her sons at a luxury Johannesburg hotel, but she was later granted diplomatic immunity, according to the reporting. MSI previously reported that Mugabe’s son pleaded guilty and avoided the murder charge earlier in the month .