South Africa to deport Robert Mugabe’s son over firearm offence

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.

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.

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.

Mugabe and Matonhodze were initially charged with attempted murder.

After a failed plea deal, Mugabe, 28, admitted to being in South Africa illegally and to pointing a toy gun in a separate incident, while Matonhodze, 32, pleaded guilty to attempted murder and other charges.

Matonhodze, who was sentenced to three years in prison, also admitted to illegal immigration, possession of ammunition and defeating the ends of justice after police failed to recover the firearm.

Addressing Mugabe, Magistrate Renier Boshoff said he did not know whether Matonhodze had “taken the rap” for his cousin, but that he could only rule on the basis of the available evidence. Matonhodze will be deported to Zimbabwe after completing his sentence.

Boshoff said the sentences were more lenient than usual because both men had pleaded guilty and were first-time offenders.

Mugabe’s father, Robert, remains a deeply divisive figure — hailed as a liberation hero by supporters and condemned as a tyrant by critics. He was elected prime minister in 1980, leading Zimbabwe to independence and ending white minority rule. He remained in power for 37 years before being ousted in a military coup in 2017, and died from cancer two years later.

Robert Mugabe had four children, including a stepson. He had two sons with his second wife, Grace, including Bellarmine.