Mugabe’s son drops bail request – what has happened to the family after losing power

Bellarmine
Mugabe,
who
appeared
in
court
on
Wednesday
for
a
bail
hearing,
is
accused
of
attempted
murder,
among
other
charges,
after
a
23-year-old
man
was
shot
and
injured
at
a
property
in
an
upmarket
suburb
of
Johannesburg.

He
has
not
commented
on
the
charges
but
in
an
unexpected
move,
he
abandoned
his
request
for
bail
and
agreed
to
plea
negotiations
with
South
African
prosecutors.
He
is
charged
alongside
his
bodyguard.

Their
lawyer
Sinenhlanhla
Mnguni
said
it
was
“premature
to
say…
whether
we
will
plead
guilty
to
anything
at
this
stage”.
The
matter
returns
to
court
next
Tuesday.

His
father
led
Zimbabwe
for
37
years
before
being
forced
out
of
power
at
the
age
of
93
in
2017.
He
died
two
years
later.

The
long-serving
president
and
his
second
wife
Grace
had
three
children
together:

• 
  Bona
  Mugabe –
  now
  37
• 
  Robert
  Mugabe
  Jr –
  now
  33
• 
  Bellarmine
  Mugabe –
  now
  28.

Grace
also
had
a
son
from
an
earlier
marriage:

• 
  Russell
  Goreraza –
  now
  in
  his
  early
  40s.

Managing
editor
of
Zimbabwean
privately
owned
NewsHawks
website,
Dumisani
Muleya,
told
the
BBC
that
the
Mugabe
family
had
“lived
a
life
of
privilege”
and
that
the
children
“grew
up
in
that
environment
where
they
were
protected
from
the
broader
realities
of
the
Zimbabwean
political
and
socio-economic
situation”.

The
family
had
amassed
a
vast
personal
fortune,
including
$10m
(£7.5m)
in
cash,
four
houses,
10
cars,
a
farm
and
an
orchard
among
other
assets.

These
details
emerged
three
months
after
Robert
Mugabe’s
death
in
a
legal
letter
submitted
to
the
high
court
in
Zimbabwe
by
his
daughter
Bona.
At
the
time,
a
lawyer
for
the
family,
Terrence
Hussein,
told
the
BBC
that
none
of
the
properties
were
under
the
former
leader’s
name.

In
2013,
Grace
denied
that
her
husband
was
accumulating
wealth
while
in
office,
saying
her
husband
did
not
earn
as
much
as
people
thought
as
he
was
a
civil
servant.

“The
allowance
I
get
is
just
a
pittance.
I’m
a
business-minded
person
[and]
I
support
my
husband
[by]
running
our
private
businesses,”
she
said.

Here
is
a
run-down
of
what
has
happened
to
the
family
members:

Like
his
siblings,
he
grew
up
in
the
public
eye
and
was
subjected
to
scrutiny
from
a
young
age.

But
as
a
teenager
it
was
Bellarmine’s
approach
to
studying
that
appeared
to
have
been
a
concern
for
his
parents.

In
a
wide-ranging
interview
in
2013
on
South
African
television,
they
described
his
playfulness
and
lack
of
focus
on
academics.

Grace
said
she
wanted
him
to
“change
his
ways”
and
“concentrate
on
his
studies”.

“He
should
be
more
serious
than
he
is
at
the
moment,”
his
father
added.

Bellarmine
sheepishly
admitted
to
spending
more
time
on
video
games
than
his
schoolwork.

Bellarmine
and
his
older
brother
Robert
Jr
have
made
headlines
over
the
years
for
their
flashy
lifestyles
in
the
face
of
rising
poverty
in
Zimbabwe.

In
2017,
a
few
weeks
before
the
coup
in
which
his
father
was
ousted,
he
posted
a
picture
of
a
$60,000
watch
he
was
wearing
on
Instagram.

A
few
months
earlier,
the
brothers
were
reportedly
kicked
out
of
a
luxury
apartment
block
in
the
affluent
Johannesburg
suburb
of
Sandton
after
complaints
about
the
noise
they
were
making.

There
have
been
also
several
brushes
with
the
law
more
recently.

In
2024
he
was
arrested
for
allegedly
assaulting
a
police
officer
in
the
Zimbabwean
border
town
of
Beitbridge.

He
was
given
bail
but
a
warrant
for
his
arrest
was
then
issued
after
he
failed
to
appear
in
court,
Zimbabwe’s
state-run
Herald
newspaper
reported
at
the
time.

A
year
later
in
June,
he
was
again
arrested
for
assaulting
a
security
guard
at
a
mining
site
in
Mazowe,
an
hour’s
drive
north
of
the
capital,
Harare.

He
was
bailed
and
the
case
has
not
yet
concluded.

The
current
case
in
South
Africa
against
Bellarmine
has
faced
several
delays
since
his
arrest
in
mid-February
and
his
bail
application
hearing
has
already
been
postponed
twice.

Also
no
stranger
to
run-ins
with
the
police,
Robert
Jr
was
arrested
in
2023
over
allegations
he
damaged
property
at
a
party
in
Harare.

He
faced
three
counts
of
malicious
damage
to
property
and
two
charges
of
assault
on
a
police
officer,
his
lawyer
said
at
the
time.
He
was
accused
of
smashing
car
windscreens
and
spitting
on
a
police
officer.

He
maintained
his
innocence
and
was
later
freed
after
agreeing
to
an
out-of-court
settlement
with
the
complainant,
who
was
a
friend
of
his.

In
2025,
after
pleading
guilty,
Robert
Jr
was
convicted
and
fined
in
Zimbabwe
for
possession
of
cannabis.

Officers
said
they
had
recovered
2g
(0.07
oz)
of
cannabis,
with
a
street
value
of
$30,
but
his
lawyer
said
the
amount
was
0.02g.

The
former
first
lady,
now
60,
gained
a
reputation,
and
criticism,
over
the
years
for
her
alleged
appetite
for
shopping
and
extravagance,
earning
her
the
moniker
“Gucci
Grace”.

She
denied
the
disparaging
accusations
and
in
the
2013
interview
said
detractors
believed
she
was
a
“soft
target”.

“I’m
not
really
what
they
say
I
am
and
I’m
actually
surprised
by
some
of
the
things
they
say.
I
work
so
hard
and
I
don’t
have
time
to
pamper
myself.
I
make
my
own
clothes
and
tie
my
own
scarf,”
she
said.

In
the
latter
part
of
her
husband’s
presidency
she
began
positioning
herself
as
a
potential
successor.

She
headed
the
women’s
league
of
Zimbabwe’s
ruling
Zanu-PF
party and
was
instrumental
in
the
sidelining
of
several
rival
candidates.

Her
plans
fell
apart
when
Mugabe
was
deposed
after
he
sacked
then
Vice-President
Emmerson
Mnangagwa
in
November
2017.

Her
business
empire
subsequently
fell
apart
–
and
her
multimillion-dollar
dairy
firm,
Gushungo
Dairy
Estates,
closed
in
2022
reportedly
mired
in
huge
debts.

Some
argued
that
it
only
stayed
afloat
because
of
official
patronage,
which
fell
away
after
Mugabe’s
ousting.

However,
she
continues
to
live
in
the
vast
Blue
Roof
mansion
in
Harare,
which
was
bought
by
Zanu-PF
for
Robert
Mugabe
while
he
was
still
in
power.

The
party
transferred
ownership
of
the
property
to
the
family
after
he
died.

Grace
is
unable
to
travel
to
South
Africa,
where
she
faces
a
warrant
of
arrest
relating
to
a
case
that
happened
not
long
before
the
Mugabes
left
power

She
was
accused
in
2017
of
assaulting
a
young
woman,
Gabriella
Engels,
with
an
electric
extension
cord
in
a
hotel
room
in
Johannesburg.

Grace
said
at
the
time
that
she
had
acted
in
self-defence
after
she
was
attacked
in
the
room
where
Bellarmine
and
Robert
Jr
lived.
According
to
Engels,
she
and
her
friend
were
visiting
the
brothers.

An
investigation
was
launched
but
Grace
was
given
diplomatic
immunity,
allowing
her
to
leave
South
Africa
without
answering
questions.
That
immunity
was
annulled
in
July
2018,
eight
months
after
the
coup,
and
the
arrest
warrant
issued.

This
incident
echoed
one
in
2009,
when
the
then
first
lady
was
accused
of
assaulting
a
British
newspaper
photographer
in
Hong
Kong,
where
her
daughter
Bona
was
studying.

Richard
Jones
said
that
Grace
had
punched
him
while
wearing
a
diamond-studded
ring.
She
was
not
charged
as
she
was
given
diplomatic
immunity
by
the
Chinese
government.

Grace
later
said
she
was
pushed
too
far
and
said
she
was
“protecting
my
daughter”.

“I
had
to
[punch
him]
but
I
really
don’t
know
what
happened,
I
had
all
this
energy,”
she
said
in
the
2013
interview.

While
the
rest
of
the
family’s
exploits
have
made
headlines
over
the
years,
Bona
largely
stayed
out
of
the
spotlight
–
until
a
bitter
divorce
thrust
her
into
the
public
eye.

Mugabe’s
eldest
child
and
only
daughter
filed
for
divorce
from
former
pilot
Simbarashe
Chikore
in
2023,
sparking
a
highly
publicised
legal
battle
between
the
two.

Chikore
wanted
a
share
of
what
he
said
was
$80m
worth
of
residential
properties,
including
a
mansion
in
Dubai
and
21
farms
–
something
that
flies
in
the
face
of
her
father’s
policy
of
“one
household,
one
farm”.

He
also
detailed
a
list
of
other
assets
she
allegedly
owned,
saying
this
was
just
a
“drop
in
the
ocean”.

Bona
did
not
respond
to
her
estranged
husband’s
allegations
but
a
former
spokesperson
for
her
father
denied
the
couple
owned
21
farms.

They
eventually
opted
to
settle
their
divorce
privately
following
public
scrutiny
and
outrage
over
the
revelations.

Bona
and
Chikore
had
married
at
a
lavish
wedding
in
2014
that
was
attended
by
several
African
heads
of
state
–
and
was
broadcast
live
on
state
television
–
and
have
three
children.

In
2015,
Grace’s
oldest
son
Russell
Goreraza
was
convicted
of
manslaughter
and
fined
$800
(£595).

This
came
after
he
knocked
down
and
killed
an
unidentified
man
in
his
car
in
Harare
earlier
that
year.
Goreraza
was
speeding
at
the
time
of
the
accident.

Sentencing
for
culpable
homicide
varies
depending
on
the
magistrate
and
their
interpretation
of
the
circumstances,
but
two-year
prison
terms
have
been
handed
down
in
similar
cases.

The
magistrate
presiding
over
this
case
said
he
had
decided
against
jail
because
of
Goreraza’s
remorse
and
the
fact
that
he
was
a
first-time
offender.

The
family
has
largely
retreated
from
public
life
since
2017.

The
ousted
president
was
bitter
about
the
way
he
was
treated
by
his
Zanu-PF
party
and
campaigned
for
the
opposition
in
the
2018
elections.

But
since
his
death,
his
wife,
daughter
Bona
and
Robert
Jr
have
appeared
to
reconcile
with
the
party,
attending
President
Emmerson
Mnangagwa’s
most
recent
inauguration
in
2023.

The
Mugabes,
except
for
Bellarmine,
are
believed
to
be
living
in
Zimbabwe.

The
BBC
contacted
a
family
spokesperson
for
comment,
but
they
declined
to
confirm
the
family’s
whereabouts.