Bellarmine Chatunga Mugabe (28), son of Zimbabwe’s late president Robert Mugabe, and his co-accused have abandoned their bail application and will remain in custody.
The Alexandra Magistrates’ Court has postponed the case against Mugabe and Tobias Tamirepi Matonhodze (33) to 17 March for plea negotiations. The postponement follows the accused’s decision to abandon bail and request that the matter be transferred back to the trial court.
The two men face charges of attempted murder, defeating the ends of justice, possession of an unlicensed firearm and ammunition, contravention of the Immigration Act and two additional counts of pointing a firearm relating to a separate incident.
According to the charges, an altercation occurred between the accused and the complainant inside Mugabe’s residence in Johannesburg’s Hyde Park suburb. During the altercation, the complainant was allegedly assaulted and attempted to flee the premises, but was shot in the back and collapsed outside the gate.
It is further alleged that one of the accused took a remote control from the complainant, returned to the property and closed the gate. A security guard from a neighbouring residence reportedly noticed the complainant lying outside and alerted the police.
Mugabe and his older brother Robert Junior gained notoriety in the 2010s for flaunting their lavish lifestyles on social media, including posts showing expensive watches and champagne. Their father ruled Zimbabwe for almost 40 years until he was deposed in a coup in 2017.
