Robert Mugabe’s son Bellarmine pleads guilty to pointing a gun and illegal presence in South Africa
Bellarmine Mugabe, the youngest son of Zimbabwe’s late former leader Robert Mugabe, has pleaded guilty in South Africa to pointing a firearm and to illegally being in the country, following his arrest in February after a shooting at his Johannesburg home. The 28-year-old appeared in the court in Alexandra on Friday alongside co-accused Tobias Matonhodze, with whom he has been held in custody.
Lawyers for both men told the court they were prepared to return to 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 had also been charged with attempted murder—spoke only to confirm he understood the charges and to enter his pleas. A spokesperson for South Africa’s National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), Magaboke Mohlatlole, said the charge of pointing a gun relates to a separate, unrelated incident that Mugabe agreed to have heard together with the other case.
He added that it was initially unclear who shot the 23-year-old victim, but after Matonhodze admitted he fired the shots, the attempted murder charge against Mugabe was 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 23-year-old man, believed to be a security guard, was taken to hospital in a critical condition after he was shot. Prosecutors previously told the court 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 searched the home have yet to find the gun. The NPA said sentencing proceedings have been postponed to 24 April. This is not the first time Bellarmine Mugabe has faced legal trouble.
In 2024 he was arrested for allegedly assaulting a police officer in the Zimbabwean border town of Beitbridge; he was granted bail, but a warrant for his arrest was later issued after he failed to appear in court, according to Zimbabwe’s state-run Herald newspaper at the time.
A year later in June, he was again arrested for assaulting a security guard at a mining site in Mazowe, about an hour north of Harare. That 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, ruled Zimbabwe for 37 years before being ousted in a 2017 coup.