JOHANNESBURG, April 29 - A magistrate in Johannesburg on Wednesday handed down financial penalties and ordered the deportation of Bellarmine Chatunga Mugabe, who is believed to be in his late 20s and is the youngest son of the late Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe. The ruling followed guilty pleas entered as part of negotiations with prosecutors over separate incidents connected to events at a mansion in Johannesburg where Mugabe had been staying.
Bellarmine Mugabe and another man were arrested in February after a worker at the residence was shot and wounded. Both men have remained in custody since the arrests. Court proceedings established that Bellarmine Mugabe pleaded guilty to pointing a toy gun in an incident that the court said was distinct from the shooting in which the worker was injured. Details about how Bellarmine Mugabe allegedly breached South African immigration laws were not clarified in court; he entered a guilty plea to that charge as well.
For the toy gun offence, Bellarmine Mugabe was ordered to pay a 400,000 rand fine. In addition, he received a 200,000 rand fine relating to the immigration violation, and the court indicated he will be deported following completion of proceedings. The co-accused, Tobias Matonhodze, pleaded guilty to attempted murder of the worker and to additional charges including defeating the ends of justice. Matonhodze was sentenced to three years in prison and will face deportation after serving his sentence.
At a recent hearing in the Alexandra Magistrate's Court, the investigating officer disclosed that the worker who was shot twice in the back had accepted a compensation settlement of 250,000 rand, and that a further payment of 150,000 rand is due. The firearm used in the shooting remains missing, according to court statements.
The courtroom rulings come against the backdrop of the Mugabe family name. Robert Mugabe, who led Zimbabwe for 37 years after independence in 1980, was removed from office in a 2017 military intervention and died in 2019 at a hospital in Singapore at the age of 95. The exchange rate used in court reporting was $1 = 16.60 rand.
Legal outcomes and unresolved elements
The case resolved in part through guilty pleas and negotiated agreements that resulted in fines, criminal sentences and planned deportations. However, certain factual questions remain open in the public record, including specifics of the immigration breach attributed to Bellarmine Mugabe and the whereabouts of the firearm involved in the shooting.
Authorities confirmed the injured worker has received compensation in two instalments agreed in court, while Matonhodze will serve a custodial term before deportation. Bellarmine Mugabe faces financial penalties and removal from South Africa following the court order.