South African police have arrested the youngest son of Zimbabwe’s late former president Robert Mugabe on suspicion of attempted murder following a reported shooting at a residential property in Johannesburg.
Bellarmine Mugabe, 28, was taken into custody after a 23-year-old man, believed to be a gardener, was shot and seriously wounded at a house in the affluent Hyde Park suburb, police said.
Officers who searched the property where Mugabe was staying recovered spent bullet cartridges but did not find a firearm, according to police spokesperson Colonel Dimakatso Nevhuhulwi.
Another man was also arrested in connection with the incident as investigations continue. Both suspects are expected to appear in court in the coming days, police said.
While authorities have not officially confirmed the identities of those arrested, reporters at the scene witnessed Bellarmine Mugabe being led away in handcuffs, and local media widely identified him as one of the suspects.
The victim remains hospitalized in critical condition after being shot once, Nevhuhulwi added, noting that the suspects have not disclosed the whereabouts of the weapon used.
Bellarmine Mugabe is the youngest child of Robert Mugabe and his second wife, Grace Mugabe. Robert Mugabe ruled Zimbabwe for 37 years before being removed from power in a military intervention in 2017. He died in 2019 at the age of 95.