Cops swoop on playboy Bellarmine after bloody ‘row’ at £3,000-a-month mansion
By SCM REPORTER Johannesburg
THE PLAYBOY son of tyrant Robert Mugabe has been hauled away in handcuffs after a gardener was shot and left for dead at his luxury South African mansion.
Bellarmine Chatunga Mugabe, 29, was snatched by police in the early hours following a bloody “altercation” at his plush residence in the exclusive Hyde Park suburb of Johannesburg.
Terrified neighbours reported hearing a volley of gunshots ringing out from the property, which is nestled in one of the city’s most expensive postcodes.
The victim, a 23-year-old gardener employed at the estate, was found with a single gunshot wound.
He was rushed to a local hospital where he remains in a critical condition tonight, fighting for his life.
South African police confirmed they have opened an attempted murder investigation.
”Two men were taken in for questioning, including Mugabe, who has been formally arrested,” said police spokesperson Colonel Dimakatso Nevhuhulwi.
In a dramatic stand-off, forensic teams and K-9 units spent hours combing the grounds for the weapon.
It is understood that while bullet cartridges were recovered, the firearm remains missing.
Police sources say the suspects have been “uncooperative” regarding the location of the gun.
The ‘Wild Child’ Background
Bellarmine is the youngest son of the late Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabe and his controversial wife, “Gucci” Grace.
The Mugabe children have long been notorious for their hard-partying lifestyles in South Africa, often flaunting wealth while their home country collapsed into poverty.
This latest incident is just one in a long line of scandals:
2017: Bellarmine and his brother Robert Jr. were famously evicted from a £4,000-a-month Sandton apartment after a “crazy” brawl left a security guard injured.
The Extension Cord Incident: Their mother, Grace Mugabe, was accused of bashing a South African model with an electrical extension cord in a hotel room where she found her sons partying.
2024: His older brother Robert Jr. was fined after admitting to drug possession in Zimbabwe.
Robert Mugabe ruled Zimbabwe with an iron fist for 37 years before being ousted in a 2017 military coup.
He died in 2019, leaving behind a family legacy defined more by luxury shopping trips and legal run-ins than political statesmanship.
Tonight, Bellarmine remains behind bars as detectives scramble to find the motive behind the shooting that has left a young man clinging to life.
