JOHANNESBURG – Bellarmine Chatunga Mugabe (28), son of Zimbabwe’s late president Robert Mugabe, remains behind bars following a brief court appearance on Monday on charges including attempted murder.
Mugabe and his co-accused Tobias Mugabe Matonhodze (33) appeared in court for the first time since their arrest in connection with the alleged shooting of a 23-year-old man in Johannesburg’s upmarket Hyde Park suburb on 19 February.
The two men will remain in custody ahead of a bail application scheduled for 3 March.
During Monday’s brief court appearance, the state prosecutor told the court that the firearm allegedly used in the shooting has not been recovered and that investigations are “far from over”. The alleged victim, who was shot in the back, remains in hospital under police guard.
In addition to attempted murder, the pair face charges of obstructing justice, illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition, contraventions of the Immigration Act on suspicion of being in South Africa illegally, and theft.
National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Magaboke Mohlatlole explained the theft charge: “After [the alleged victim] got shot, he tried to flee. He went outside of the gate and then he fell. After falling, one of the accused went and took the remote [for the gate] from him.”
Police believe the victim was an employee at the Hyde Park residence, which is located in the same affluent suburb where South African president Cyril Ramaphosa also has a home.
Notorious lifestyle
Mugabe and his older brother Robert Junior became widely known in the 2010s for displaying their extravagant lifestyles on social media. In 2017, the younger Mugabe posted a photograph of his watch on Instagram with the caption: “$60,000 on the wrist when your daddy run the whole country ya know!!!” A video later circulated showing him dousing the watch with champagne.
Their father, Robert Mugabe, ruled Zimbabwe for almost 40 years until he was deposed in a coup in 2017. He died two years later aged 95. While he initially came to power as a liberation hero who ended white minority rule, his leadership descended into tyranny and corruption, presiding over hyperinflation and economic collapse.
The Mugabe family’s taste for luxury extended beyond the brothers. Their mother, Grace Mugabe, who was 40 years her husband’s junior, earned the nickname “Gucci Grace” for her expensive shopping habits. Reports of property purchases in Johannesburg, Singapore, Dubai and Malaysia, along with a rumoured R1.6 million shopping spree in Paris, cemented her reputation.
Previous legal troubles
In 2017, Grace Mugabe avoided prosecution in South Africa by invoking diplomatic immunity after model Gabriella Engels accused her of assault. Engels alleged the former first lady hit her with an electric cable until she bled following an encounter with the Mugabe brothers at a hotel. Grace denied the allegations.
Robert Junior has his own history of run-ins with the law. In 2023, he was arrested for allegedly causing more than R200 000 worth of damage to cars and other property at a party in Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare. Last year, he was fined for possessing cannabis after being arrested whilst driving the wrong way down a one-way street.
