from MARCUS MUSHONGA in Harare, Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe Bureau
HARARE, (CAJ News) – THE arrest of the youngest son of former Zimbabwe president, Robert Mugabe, on multiple assault charges is reminiscent of the violence the now-deceased author wrote during his lengthy rule.
It also invokes the violence that was synonymous with the former First Lady, Grace Mugabe.
Chatunga Bellarmine Mugabe (28), who is also a businessman, was recently arrested after leading an assault on a security guard and several other employees at a mining site bordering a farm owned by his mother in Mazowe town, about 38 kilometres north of the capital Harare.
Workers were injured, mostly the security guard who was left nursing broken limbs after the attacks by Chatunga and his bodyguards allegedly armed with AK-47 rifles.
The assailants allegedly accused the security guard and fellow workers of harbouring illegal miners that were encroaching into his mother’s property.
Mugabe junior and two bodyguards were arrested, since appeared in court and have been released on US$200 bail each.
It is understood the ex-president’s son was arrested for the alleged crime only after he reportedly assaulted a groundsman at a local school.
Circumstances around that school incident are unclear.
This is the latest in a string of violent behaviour by him, with reports indicating at least seven different cases opened by the police against him. Among these are assault, firearms and torture.
Born in 1996, the year his parents got married, he was expelled from high school in 2013, and completed his studies at home.
It appears blood runs in the Mugabe family.
Chatunga has an elder brother, Robert Junior (33), who has recently been involved in politics, aligning himself with the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union- Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF), which expelled his parents when Mugabe was toppled as president in 2017.
Robert Jnr has however made headlines for the wrong reasons.
The year their father was overthrown, the two young men, while living in South Africa, were involved in a violent incident at their apartment, which left a security officer nursing broken limbs.
Robert Jnr was arrested in 2023 on allegations of destroying cars and other properties at a place where he was attending a party. It was alleged he assaulted a police officer.
The matter was settled out of court.
“Mugabe’s sons have been out of control for a while,” said journalist Maynard Manyowa.
The two Mugabe sons have a stepbrother, Russell Goreraza, son to the ex-first lady, from an earlier marriage.
He is also synonymous for a questionable, lavish lifestyle and has previously been on trial for theft of mining equipment. He was involved in the sector.
It is said the apple doesn’t] fall far from the tree.
During his 37-year rule from 1980, Mugabe ran Zimbabwe with an iron fist.
As Prime Minister, his government deployed a Korean-trained army unit that is accused of killing an estimated 20 000civilians in opposition strongholds, in an operation to root out dissidents in the early 1980s.
In 2000, he sanctioned the violent takeover of mostly white “owned” commercial farms by veterans of the liberation struggle and ruling party supporters.
Violence against political rivals also marred the latter stages of his presidency, especially in 2008 when he lost power to the opposition for the first time since independence.
Nicknamed “Gucci Grace” for her extravagant lifestyle, as first lady, Mrs Mugabe courted controversy for her hot temper and violent behaviour.
Others nicknamed her “Dis-Grace.”
She was accused of, alongside her bodyguard, assaulting a photographer during a shopping trip in Hong Kong in 2009. Mrs Mugabe was granted immunity from prosecution because of Zimbabwe’s diplomatic ties with China.
In 2017, while in South Africa, she survived prosecution after allegedly assaulting a local model as well as Chatunga and Robert Jnr at a hotel in Johannesburg.
The model, who suffered injuries, opened a case but Mrs Mugabe enjoyed diplomatic immunity.
The former president passed away in Singapore in 2019, aged 85.
– CAJ News