Zimbabwe’s First Lady accused of assault in South Africa

“We did not speak about that”, she said, following Cabinet’s regular meeting.

Zimbabwe’s first lady Grace Mugabe is not entitled to diplomatic immunity and must be arrested‚ says Zakhele Mbhele‚ MP and Democratic Alliance shadow minister of police.

Despite rumours that she had fled to Zimbabwe, Mugabe is still suspected to be in South Africa and Police Minister Fikile Mbalula on Thursday said border authorities are on alert in case she tries to flee and avoid the charges. He arrived early for a regional summit of southern African nations to be held this weekend.

A 20-year-old South African model has accused Mrs Mugabe of assaulting her at a hotel in Johannesburg on Sunday.

According to South African police, Mugabe has applied for diplomatic immunity to protect herself from possible assault charges. Her mother, Debbie, said the support from Nel and Afriforum was encouraging.

In the afternoon, the magistrates’ court where police said Grace would be formally charged closed for the day without her appearing.

“We did have the guests removed from the premises due to a scenario where we thought it was not good for them to stay there”, he said.

She later posted a picture on Twitter showing a gash on her forehead.

Ms Engels released an image of a head injury online. “We are very confident that she does not have and she will not qualify for diplomatic immunity in this particular matter”.

Engels told the AP she would be willing to face Mugabe in court.

She allegedly bashed Engels at a hotel in Sandton, accusing her of living with her sons who were both in their 20s and lived in Johannesburg. “I’m a model and I make my money based on my looks'” she said. “I was surprised. I had to crawl out of the room before I could run away”, she said.

The first lady once told supporters that she was “already the president”, planning everything with her husband.

Nel, who is one of this country’s top criminal prosecutors, will brief journalists on Thursday afternoon.

“If they pull the diplomatic card, she will win and this shows the wealth of the political elite in Zimbabwe and how Grace has semi-control of Zimbabwe”, Venter told HuffPost SA. He claimed that diplomatic immunity cannot be used to escape prosecution from “grave crimes”, meaning, crimes that one could face five years or more imprisonment.