Gate News message, April 19 — Bellarmine Mugabe, 28-year-old son of late Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe, pleaded guilty on April 17 at Alexandra Regional Court in South Africa to pointing a firearm and violating immigration laws.
His co-accused, Tobias Matonhodze, also entered guilty pleas to attempted murder, defeating the ends of justice, firearm and ammunition possession, and illegal entry into South Africa. Both men appeared before the court in the Johannesburg area on Friday. The charges stem from a February shooting incident at Mugabe's Hyde Park residence, where a 23-year-old employee identified as Sipho Mahlangu was shot and left in critical condition. The firearm used in the shooting has not been recovered.
The case has been adjourned until April 24 to allow the court to verify whether the victim has received compensation and to determine the status of the missing weapon. Robert Mugabe, who ruled Zimbabwe for 37 years as prime minister (1980–1987) and president (1987–2017), was ousted in a military intervention in November 2017. His administration faced widespread allegations of human rights abuses, including the Gukurahundi killings in the 1980s, during which an estimated 20,000 Ndebele civilians died in a military crackdown. His rule was also marked by violent farm seizures beginning in the early 2000s and Operation Murambatsvina in 2005, a demolition campaign that displaced hundreds of thousands. Mugabe died on September 6, 2019, in Singapore at age 95.
