Bellarmine Chatunga Mugabe, known for lavish lifestyle, also accused of theft and being illegal immigrant after man allegedly shot in back
A son of the late Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe has been charged with attempted murder after a 23-year-old man was allegedly shot in the back on 19 February in an upmarket area of Johannesburg.
Bellarmine Chatunga Mugabe, 28, appeared in court on Monday for a brief hearing alongside co-accused Tobias Mugabe Matonhodze. Mugabe’s lawyer Sinenhlanhla Mnguni declined to comment when asked by reporters whether the two men were related. Mnguni said he would request bail for his clients at the next hearing on 3 March.
Mugabe and his older brother Robert Junior became notorious in the 2010s for sharing their lavish lifestyles online. In 2017, the younger Mugabe posted a photograph of his watch on Instagram with the caption: “$60,000 on the wrist when your daddy run the whole country ya know!!!” Shortly after, a video circulated of him dousing the watch with champagne.
A state prosecutor said at the hearing on Monday that the gun allegedly used in the shooting had not yet been found. He added that investigations were “far from over”.
