Bellarmine Chatunga Mugabe: everything we know so far

Bellarmine Chatunga Mugabe also fined after pleading guilty to immigration and firearms-related offences. Bellarmine Chatunga Mugabe has emerged this Friday as one of the stories drawing attention in Zimbabwe.

Key facts

• Bellarmine Chatunga Mugabe also fined after pleading guilty to immigration and firearms-related offences.
• Bellarmine Chatunga Mugabe, 28, and his cousin Tobias Mugabe Matonhodze, 33, were initially both charged with attempted murder after the incident on 19 February.
• Bellarmine Mugabe pleaded guilty to pointing a firearm and illegally being in the country earlier this month after he was arrested following the shooting of a 23-year-old man at his home.
• A court in Johannesburg on Wednesday ordered Bellarmine Mugabe to pay a fine of $36,000 or face a two-year prison sentence for brandishing a toy gun in a manner that created the impression it was real, as well as for being in the country illegally.
• The youngest son of Zimbabwe's late former leader Robert Mugabe has been deported from South Africa and has arrived in Zimbabwe, following an order from a Johannesburg court.

What we know

Going deeper, Bellarmine Chatunga Mugabe, 28, and his cousin Tobias Mugabe Matonhodze, 33, were initially both charged with attempted murder after the incident on 19 February.

On the substance, Bellarmine Mugabe pleaded guilty to pointing a firearm and illegally being in the country earlier this month after he was arrested following the shooting of a 23-year-old man at his home.

Beyond the headlines, a court in Johannesburg on Wednesday ordered Bellarmine Mugabe to pay a fine of $36,000 or face a two-year prison sentence for brandishing a toy gun in a manner that created the impression it was real, as well as for being in the country illegally.

More precisely, the youngest son of Zimbabwe's late former leader Robert Mugabe has been deported from South Africa and has arrived in Zimbabwe, following an order from a Johannesburg court.

It is worth noting that Bellarmine Mugabe is one of two sons Robert Mugabe had with his second wife, Grace.

By the numbers

At this stage, the 28-year-old was arrested in February after a man had been shot at his home in Johannesburg.

On a related note, both men were arrested on 19 February when police were called to Mugabe's home in the upmarket Johannesburg suburb of Hyde Park.

Going deeper, Mugabe was ordered to pay a fine of 400,000 rand (£17,851) for pointing a toy gun in a way that was likely to be seen as real firearm, over a separate incident in 2023.

On the substance, the magistrate said the sentences were mitigated by the two men pleading guilty to the offences, the time they had spent in prison since the shooting on 19 February, and because the victim, 23-year-old Sipho Mahlangu, wanted to withdraw the charges after being paid by Mugabe and Matonhodze.

The wider context

On a related note, a magistrate has ordered that the youngest son of the late Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe is to be deported immediately from South Africa after pleading guilty to two offences earlier this month.

Going deeper, Robert Mugabe ruled Zimbabwe for almost 40 years, initially as a hero, having ended white minority rule in Zimbabwe.

On the substance, Mugabe and his older brother, Robert Junior, 34, became notorious in the 2010s for sharing their lavish lifestyles online.

Beyond the headlines, In 2017, their mother, Grace Mugabe, avoided a court case in South Africa by invoking diplomatic immunity.

More precisely, Mugabe was arrested on February 19 alongside his cousin, Tobias Matonhodze, after an employee at his home in the affluent Johannesburg suburb of Hyde Park was shot in the back.

The bottom line

• A court in Johannesburg on Wednesday ordered Bellarmine Mugabe to pay a fine of $36,000 or face a two-year prison sentence for brandishing a toy gun in a manner that created the impression it was real, as well as for being in the country illegally.
• The youngest son of Zimbabwe's late former leader Robert Mugabe has been deported from South Africa and has arrived in Zimbabwe, following an order from a Johannesburg court.
• The 28-year-old was arrested in February after a man had been shot at his home in Johannesburg.
• Searches spiking right now: South Africa deports Mugabe’s son for unrelated offences after employee shot at family home, Mugabe's son deported from South Africa, South Africa to deport Robert Mugabe’s son over firearm offence, Mugabe's son given fine and to be deported from South Africa for pointing a toy gun.