Mugabe's son given fine and to be deported from South Africa for pointing a toy gun


Bellarmine Chatunga Mugabe, son of late Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe, looks on during his court appearance on attempted murder charges, after a gardener was shot and injured last week at the Johannesburg mansion where Chatunga was staying, at the Alexandra Magistrate's Court in Johannesburg, South Africa February 23, 2026. REUTERS/Oupa Nkosi/File Photo

JOHANNESBURG, April 29 (Reuters) - A ⁠South African court on Wednesday ordered the youngest son of ⁠Zimbabwe's former president Robert Mugabe to pay a large fine ‌and said he would be deported for pointing a toy gun at someone and breaking immigration laws.

Bellarmine Chatunga Mugabe, believed to be in his late 20s, and another ​man were arrested in February after a worker ⁠was shot and wounded at ⁠a mansion in Johannesburg where Mugabe was staying.

Both have been in custody ⁠since ‌their arrest. They pleaded guilty as part of negotiations with prosecutors.

It is not clear how Bellarmine Mugabe broke South Africa's ⁠immigration laws, and he pleaded guilty to pointing ​a toy gun ‌in a separate incident from the one in which the worker ⁠was shot.

He ​was given a 400,000 rand ($24,100) fine for pointing the toy gun and a 200,000 rand fine for violating immigration rules.

His co-accused Tobias Matonhodze pleaded guilty ⁠to attempted murder of the worker along with ​other charges like defeating the ends of justice.

Matonhodze was sentenced to three years in prison, after which he will be deported.

The investigating officer told ⁠the Alexandra Magistrate's Court last week that the worker who was shot twice in the back received a compensation settlement of 250,000 rand, with a further payment of 150,000 rand to come.

The firearm used in ​the shooting is still missing.

Robert Mugabe ruled ⁠Zimbabwe for 37 years after independence from Britain in 1980. He was ​ousted in a military coup in 2017 ‌and died in 2019 at a hospital ​in Singapore, aged 95.

($1 = 16.60 rand)

(Reporting by Sfundo Parakozov, Anathi Madubela and Nilutpal Timsina;Editing by Alexander Winning and Toby Chopra)

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