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Wednesday, April 29, 2026

South African court fines Mugabe’s son for threatening man with toy gun

The court also said Bellarmine Chatunga Mugabe would be deported.

• April 29, 2026
Bellarmine Chatunga Mugabe
Bellarmine Chatunga Mugabe

A South African court has ordered the youngest son of Zimbabwe’s former president, Robert Mugabe, to pay a ​large fine for pointing a toy gun at someone and breaking immigration laws.

The court also said Bellarmine Chatunga Mugabe would be deported.

Mr Mugabe believed to be in his late 20s, and another man were arrested in ​February after a worker was shot and wounded at a ​mansion in Johannesburg where Mr Mugabe was staying.

Both have been ⁠in custody since their arrest. They pleaded guilty as part of ​negotiations with prosecutors.

It is not clear how Mr Mugabe broke South ​Africa’s immigration laws, but he pleaded guilty to pointing a toy gun in a separate incident from the one in which the worker was shot.

He ​was given a 400,000 rand ($24,100) fine for pointing the toy ​gun and a 200,000 rand fine for violating immigration rules.

His co-accused Tobias Matonhodze ‌pleaded ⁠guilty to attempted murder of the worker along with other charges such as defeating the ends of justice.

Matonhodze was sentenced to three years in prison, after which he will be deported.

The investigating officer told ​the Alexandra Magistrates’ ​Court last ⁠week that the worker, who was shot twice in the back received a compensation settlement of 250,000 ​rand, with an extra payment of 150,000 rand later. 

The ⁠firearm used in the shooting is still missing.

Robert Mugabe ruled Zimbabwe for 37 years after independence from Britain in 1980.

He was ousted ⁠in ​a military coup in 2017 and died ​in 2019 at a hospital in Singapore, aged 95.

(Xinhua/NAN) 

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