Police react after Grace Mugabe fracas
Print Edition
South African police said yesterday they knew the whereabouts of Zimbabwe’s first lady Grace Mugabe, who faces accusations of assault, but declined to say if she had fled the country.
The 52-year-old wife of President Robert Mugabe is accused of beating model Gabriella Engels, 20, on Sunday evening at the Johannesburg hotel where her two sons were staying.
Engels said she suffered deep cuts to her forehead and the back of her head, and on Monday she registered a case with the police alleging assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm.
“We know where the suspect is,” said South Africa’s police spokesman Vishnu Naidoo.
“We are still continuing with the investigations. No warrant of arrest has been issued,” he added after some reports suggested Grace Mugabe had hurriedly returned to Harare late on Tuesday.
The alleged attack threatened to spark a diplomatic tiff between the two neighboring countries, which have strong political and economic ties.
Grace Mugabe allegedly arrived at the Capital 20 West Hotel with bodyguards and accused Engels of partying with her sons Robert and Chatunga, who are both in their 20s and live in Johannesburg.
Pictures on social media appeared to show Engels bleeding from her head after the alleged assault at the hotel in the upmarket business district of Sandton.
Engels said she had been attacked with an electrical extension cord.
“She flipped and just kept beating me with the plug. Over and over. I had no idea what was going on,” she told the News 24 website.
Zimbabwe’s president is expected to fly to South Africa later this week for a regional summit which opens in Pretoria on Saturday.
Grace Mugabe is 41 years younger than her 93-year-old husband and the couple has two sons and a daughter.
She regularly speaks at rallies in Zimbabwe and is seen as one possible contender to take over from her increasingly frail husband.
Last month she urged him to name his chosen successor, reviving speculation about the race to take over from the world’s oldest national leader.
President Mugabe has ruled Zimbabwe since independence from British colonial rule in 1980.
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