The case against late former Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe’s youngest son Bellarmine Chatunga Mugabe and Tobias Mugabe Matonhodze was on Monday postponed to 3 March 2026 in the Alexandra Magistrate’s Court, where the two men are expected to bring a formal bail application.
The pair were arrested last week in connection with the shooting of a 23-year-old gardener at a private residence in Hyde Park, Johannesburg. The victim remains in critical condition in hospital.
Mugabe and his co-accused face three charges including attempted murder, defeating and obstructing the course of justice as well as the possession of a firearm. The added charges come after the police found bullet cartridges but did not recover the firearm.
Prosecutor Lufuno Maphiri indicated that the state intends to rely on the doctrine of common purpose on the first charge, adding that the second charge stems from the alleged disappearance of the firearm believed to have been used to commit the offence.
“That is defeating and obstructing the course of justice. This is in relation to the firearm that was allegedly used during the commission of the offence, which, to date, has not been recovered. Both of them are facing that charge,” he said.
The state confirmed that it intends to oppose the accused’s release on bail at this stage. Maphiri said further investigations are under way, including profiling procedures and verification of the men’s status in South Africa.
“The state still needs to do the profiling of both accused persons to also check their status in the Republic of South Africa,” he said.
Defence lawyer Sinenhlanhla Mnguni said the postponement was necessary to allow authorities to complete outstanding verification processes involving the department of home affairs and other agencies.
“It seems that they still need to approach the department of home affairs and other agencies in order to verify a number of things incidental to the statuses of the accused. Of course, we can’t really go too deep into that because we don’t know the nature, safe for what was stated in court, what the nature of those inquiries is,” Mnguni told journalists outside court.
“I think we’re just allowing them to, at this stage, continue with their investigations.”
Mnguni declined to comment on the relationship between Mugabe and Matonhdze, saying the defence had yet to receive the full contents of the police docket.
“A lot of this has been brought forward by the media. It’s not what’s been put forward in terms of a docket or anything of that nature. So once we have the full docket, we can then deal with those issues. Are they related? No comment on that.”
Bellarmine Chatunga Mugabe and his co-accused, Tobias Mugabe Matonhidze, will remain behind bars until 3 March