South Africa ‘decides against’ prosecuting Mugabe for alleged assault on Gabriella Engels

The mother of a woman allegedly assaulted by Grace Mugabe is pleading with government not to grant her diplomatic immunity.

Mugabe, who has not been seen since the Sunday’s incident, is due to attend a Southern African Development Community (SADC) meeting in Pretoria this weekend along with her husband President Robert Mugabe.

She said other global conventions could overrule the South African law’s interpretation of diplomatic immunity.

Questions about Mugabe’s location also stirred confusion as, at one point, it was believed that the first lady had travelled back to Zimbabwe after the assault.

The 20-year-old model claims Mrs Mugabe whipped her with an electric extension cable as she waiting with two friends in a luxury Johannesburg hotel suite to meet one of Mr Mugabe’s sons.

The country’s police minister said she is still in South Africa but that all border posts had been told to stop her leaving. “Sadly the other countries in the region are watching us and how we are going to act”, a source told The Guardian.

“We are now saying that as a further risk mitigation, the risk being she is a flight risk, her passports should be confiscated”, said Mbhele.

Engels has pressed charges and will be assisted by an Afrikaner lobby group and the advocate who prosecuted Oscar Pistorius.

Nel said this at an AfriForum media briefing in Centurion.

“It’s not about money”.

AfriForum CEO Kallie Kriel said Mugabe offered Engels to “come up with a figure” to make the case go away.

“We are not preparing an arrest warrant yet”, the source said. “We are waiting the outcome before we can move on to the next step”.

On Wednesday, South Africa’s police ministry said Zimbabwe’s government had sought diplomatic immunity for Mrs Mugabe. He vowed to pursue private prosecution if the National Prosecuting Authority “fail to prosecute Mrs. Mugabe without good cause”.

Harare has made no official comment and requests for comment from Zimbabwean government officials have gone unanswered.

On Tuesday, journalists waited outside the Randburg magistrate’s with the impression that Mugabe would appear in court. Zimbabwe’s ambassador to Pretoria, Isaac Moyo, did not answer his phone.

This isn’t the first time Grace’s temper has gotten her into trouble overseas, though usually nosey journalists are her preferred target.

“She flipped and just kept beating me with the plug”. We were begging her to stop hitting us but she didn’t want to.