Bellarmine Chatunga Mugabe, the son of Zimbabwe’s deceased former President Robert Mugabe, has been arrested in South Africa after he was linked to an attempted murder case.
Per the BBC, the shooting occurred at a home in a plush neighborhood located in the South African city of Johannesburg. The shooting victim was said to be a 23-year-old gardener, and South African police ultimately arrested Bellarmine, 28, in connection with the incident.
Police said that though officers found bullet cartridges after searching the home in the aftermath of the shooting, no firearm was retrieved.
Besides Bellarmine, police spokesperson Col Dimakatso Nevhuhulwi said that authorities also arrested another man in connection with the shooting.
Nevhuhulwi also said that Bellarmine and the other suspect have failed to tell them “where the gun is, they are not saying anything about the gun”.
Police said in a statement that Bellarmine and the other man will “soon” make a court appearance. Though Bellarmine had not been identified as one of the suspects at the time of this report, local media who responded to the crime scene reported that they saw the 28-year-old in handcuffs, per the BBC. The media also reported that Bellarmine was linked to the shooting.
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The police spokesperson said that the victim sustained a gunshot wound and has since been hospitalized. The victim’s condition was also listed as critical at the time of this report.
Bellarmine’s father, Robert Mugabe, resigned as president of Zimbabwe on November 21, 2017, after ruling the Southern African country for 37 years. His resignation came after the Zimbabwe National Army instigated an overthrow of Mugabe’s regime by placing him under house arrest for the crimes committed by individuals in his circle.
Mugabe was given the ultimatum to either resign by November 20, 2017, or face impeachment. He subsequently chose the former. His retirement sparked nationwide jubilations as Zimbabweans celebrated the dawn of a new era. Mugabe’s vice president, Emmerson Mnangagwa, whom he fired on November 6, 2017, was later sworn in as the new president.
Mugabe died at a hospital in Singapore on September 6, 2019. He was 95.
