JOHANNESBURG — Police in South Africa have taken the youngest son of Zimbabwe’s late President Robert Mugabe into custody for questioning Thursday following a shooting incident at a Johannesburg residence, according to the country’s public broadcaster.
South African Broadcasting Corporation identified Bellarmine Chatunga Mugabe as one of two individuals detained in connection with the incident, which reportedly took place at his residence. He is the younger son of Zimbabwe’s former president, who passed away in 2019, and Grace Mugabe, his second spouse.
Television footage from SABC showed Bellarmine Chatunga Mugabe restrained with handcuffs in the property’s driveway following the arrival of law enforcement officers.
According to a police statement, a household worker at the residence located in an upscale Johannesburg neighborhood sustained gunshot wounds and remains in critical condition at a medical facility. While authorities did not identify the two individuals brought in for questioning, they confirmed an attempted murder investigation is underway.
“The motive of the shooting is unknown at this stage and police investigations are underway,” police spokesperson Col. Dimakatso Nevhuhulwi said.
The elder Mugabe governed Zimbabwe for nearly four decades until military forces removed him from power in 2017. He passed away in Singapore two years following his ouster at age 95.
This isn’t the first legal trouble for the Mugabe family. Bellarmine Chatunga Mugabe’s elder sibling, Robert Mugabe Jr., paid a $300 penalty in Zimbabwe last year following a guilty plea to cannabis possession charges.
Their mother, Grace Mugabe, faced allegations of attacking a model while her sons Robert Jr. and Bellarmine were present at an upscale Johannesburg hotel in 2017. Though she served as Zimbabwe’s first lady during the incident and was initially summoned to court, she ultimately received diplomatic immunity protection.
