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The youngest son of Zimbabwe’s late former leader Robert Mugabe has pleaded guilty to pointing a firearm and illegally being in South Africa.<\/p>\n
Bellarmine Mugabe entered guilty pleas to the two charges after he was arrested in February following the shooting of a 23-year-old man at his home in Johannesburg.<\/p>\n
The 28-year-old has been held in custody alongside co-accused Tobias Matonhodze, and appeared at the court in Alexandra on Friday.<\/p>\n
Lawyers for the men told the court they were prepared to return to their native Zimbabwe at their own expense if they do not receive a custodial sentence.<\/p>\n
Matonhodze, 33, pleaded guilty to attempted murder, defeating the ends of justice, illegal immigration and possession of ammunition.<\/p>\n
Mugabe – who was also previously charged with attempted murder – spoke only to confirm that he understood the charges and to enter his pleas.<\/p>\n
The charge of pointing a gun relates to a separate, unrelated incident but Mugabe agreed to have the two cases heard together, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Magaboke Mohlatlole told the BBC.<\/p>\n
He said it wasn’t initially clear who had shot the 23-year-old man but after Matonhodze admitted it was him, the charges of attempted murder against Mugabe were dropped.<\/p>\n
Both men were arrested on 19 February after police were called to Mugabe’s home in the upmarket Johannesburg suburb of Hyde Park.<\/p>\n
A man, believed to be a security guard, was taken to hospital in a critical condition after he was shot.<\/p>\n
Prosecutors previously told the court that 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.<\/p>\n
Authorities, who conducted a search of the home, have yet to find the gun.<\/p>\n
Sentencing proceedings have been postponed to 24 April, the NPA said.<\/p>\n
Since Mugabe’s arrest, the case has faced several delays and his bail hearing was postponed twice.<\/p>\n
This is not the first time Mugabe has had a brush with the law.<\/p>\n
In 2024 he was arrested for allegedly assaulting a police officer in the Zimbabwean border town of Beitbridge.<\/p>\n
He was given bail but a warrant for his arrest was later issued after he failed to appear in court, Zimbabwe’s state-run Herald newspaper reported at the time.<\/p>\n
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. The case remains ongoing.<\/p>\n
Bellarmine Mugabe is one of two sons Robert Mugabe had with his second wife, Grace.<\/p>\n
The former president, who died in 2019, was in power for 37 years before being ousted in a 2017 coup.<\/p>\n