Mugabe’s son pleads guilty to pointing a gun in South Africa

The youngest son of Zimbabwe’s late former leader Robert Mugabe has pleaded guilty to pointing a firearm and illegally being in South Africa.

Bellarmine Mugabe entered guilty pleas to the two charges after he was arrested in February following the shooting of a 23-year-old man at his home in Johannesburg.

The 28-year-old has been held in custody alongside co-accused Tobias Matonhodze, and appeared at the court in Alexandra on Friday.

Lawyers for the men told the court they were prepared to return to their native Zimbabwe at their own expense if they do not receive a custodial sentence.

Matonhodze, 33, pleaded guilty to attempted murder, defeating the ends of justice, illegal immigration and possession of ammunition.

Mugabe – who was also previously charged with attempted murder – spoke only to confirm that he understood the charges and to enter his pleas.

A spokesperson for the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) told the BBC that it wasn’t initially clear who had fired the gun but after Matonhodze admitted it was him, the charges of attempted murder against Mugabe were dropped.

Both men were arrested on 19 February after police were called to Mugabe’s home in the upmarket Johannesburg suburb of Hyde Park.

A man, believed to be a security guard, was taken to hospital in a critical condition after he was shot.

Prosecutors previously told the court that the shooting followed a row between the three men inside the property, and that the victim was shot twice in the back outside as he tried to flee.

Authorities, who conducted a search of the home, have yet to find the gun.

Sentencing proceedings have been postponed to 24 April, the NPA said.

Since Mugabe’s arrest, the case has faced several delays and his bail hearing was postponed twice.

This not the first time Mugabe has had a brush with the law.

In 2024 he was arrested for allegedly assaulting a police officer in the Zimbabwean border town of Beitbridge.

He was given bail but a warrant for his arrest was later issued after he failed to appear in court, Zimbabwe’s state-run Herald newspaper reported at the time.

A year later in June, he was again arrested for assaulting a security guard at a mining site in Mazowe, an hour’s drive north of the capital, Harare. The case remains ongoing.

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

The former president, who died in 2019, was in power for 37 years before being ousted in a 2017 coup.