Bellarmine Chatunga Mugabe, the youngest son of the late Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and his second wife, Grace, appeared in the Harare Magistrates Court on Thursday. He is facing formal assault charges following an incident involving an anti-corruption agency official.
Police spokesperson Paul Nyathi confirmed that the 29-year-old was arrested on Tuesday at a lodge alongside four other men. The group appeared in court together following the operation, which authorities stated was linked to the alleged illegal importation of two luxury vehicles into Zimbabwe: a Lamborghini and a Mercedes-Benz.
According to an anti-corruption commission spokesperson, the assault occurred when officers arrived at the lodge to seize the vehicles. The official reported that one of their team members was attacked during the process. While the incident took place during the vehicle recovery operation, the commission spokesperson clarified that neither of the luxury cars has been officially linked to Bellarmine Mugabe.
This legal appearance marks another chapter in a series of brushes with the law for the Mugabe children. Bellarmine previously appeared in a Harare court in October on drug possession charges, though those were withdrawn after a co-accused accepted responsibility for the cannabis. Over recent years, both Bellarmine and his older brother, Robert Jr., have faced various allegations, including property damage, assault, and cannabis possession.
Their mother, Grace Mugabe, was also involved in a significant legal dispute in South Africa in 2017 after allegedly assaulting a young model at a Johannesburg hotel. Although South African authorities initially granted her diplomatic immunity, the country's High Court overturned that decision in 2018 following a legal challenge. The family’s patriarch, Robert Mugabe, led Zimbabwe for 37 years until his ousting in a 2017 military-backed coup; he passed away in 2019 at the age of 95.
