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Robert Mugabe's youngest son admits firearm charge
Bellarmine Mugabe, the youngest son of Zimbabwe's late former president Robert Mugabe, pleaded guilty on Friday to unlawfully pointing a firearm and illegally residing in South Africa.
Arrest and charges
The 28-year-old was detained in February after a 23-year-old man was shot at his Johannesburg home in the affluent Hyde Park suburb. Mugabe appeared in the Alexandra Magistrate's Court alongside co-accused Tobias Matonhodze, 33.
Matonhodze admitted guilt to attempted murder, obstructing justice, illegal immigration, and ammunition possession. Initially, both men faced attempted murder charges, but prosecutors dropped the accusation against Mugabe after Matonhodze confessed to firing the gun.
Shooting incident details
According to prosecutors, the victim-a suspected security guard-was shot twice in the back outside the property while attempting to escape a dispute inside the residence. The injured man was hospitalized in critical condition. Authorities have not yet recovered the firearm used in the incident.
Legal proceedings and delays
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) stated that sentencing has been postponed to 24 April. Mugabe's legal team indicated their clients were willing to return to Zimbabwe at their own expense if spared jail time.
The case has faced multiple delays since Mugabe's arrest, including two postponements of his bail hearing.
Mugabe's legal history
This is not the first time Bellarmine Mugabe has encountered legal trouble. In 2024, he was arrested for allegedly assaulting a police officer in Beitbridge, a Zimbabwean border town. Though granted bail, a warrant was later issued after he failed to appear in court, as reported by Zimbabwe's state-run Herald newspaper.
In June of the same year, he was arrested again for assaulting a security guard at a mining site in Mazowe, approximately an hour north of Harare. That case remains unresolved.
Background
Bellarmine Mugabe is one of two sons born to Robert Mugabe and his second wife, Grace. The former president, who ruled Zimbabwe for 37 years, was ousted in a 2017 coup and died in 2019.
