Mugabe's son given fine and to be deported from South Africa for pointing a toy gun

A South African court on Wednesday ordered ​the youngest son of Zimbabwe's ​former president Robert Mugabe to pay ‌a ​large fine and said he would be deported for pointing a toy gun at someone and breaking immigration laws. Bellarmine Chatunga ‌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 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 Bellarmine Mugabe broke South Africa's immigration laws, and 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 like 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 Magistrate's Court last week that the worker ⁠who ​was shot twice in the back received a compensation settlement of 250,000 rand, with a further payment of 150,000 rand to come.

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.

($1 = 16.60 rand)

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