The wife of Zimbabwe’s president handed herself over to police in South Africa after being accused of assaulting a young woman Sunday night at an upscale Johannesburg hotel, South Africa’s police minister said.
Grace Mugabe was due to appear in court yesterday, local news outlet eNCA reported.
Mugabe is “not under arrest because she cooperated and handed herself over,” Minister of Police Fikile Mbalula said in a video posted on eNCA.
Twenty-year-old Gabriella Engels has accused Mugabe of assaulting her while she was visiting Mugabe’s sons in a hotel room in an upscale Johannesburg suburb. She claims the first lady’s bodyguards stood by and watched as Mugabe attacked her.
Engels posted several photos on social media showing a gash in her forehead, which she calls a result of the alleged encounter.
“I had no clue who this woman was when she started beating me,” Engels told local radio station 702.
Police confirmed that a 20-year-old woman registered “a case of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm” on Monday, but said the suspect could not be named as she had not yet appeared in court.
“The investigation into this case has already reached an advanced stage,” a police statement yesterday said.
Meanwhile, President Robert Mugabe said one of his deputies is in a South African hospital, as local media reported he was poisoned at a political rally.
Mugabe did not address the poisoning claims yesterday [Macau time]. He told thousands at a national ceremony to honor independence heroes that Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa is in a hospital in Johannesburg.
Health minister David Parirenyatwa told reporters at the ceremony that Mnangagwa was taken to a hospital Saturday because “he had severe vomiting with diarrhea and became dehydrated.” Mnangagwa is now “much better, almost jovial,” he said.
Mnangagwa is viewed as one of Mugabe’s potential successors and is linked to a faction involved in a vicious succession battle. First lady Grace Mugabe is associated with the other faction. Zimbabwe’s first lady, Grace Mugabe, MDT/AP
