Arrests, accusations and arguments - the Mugabe family after losing power

BBC

The arrest in South Africa of the youngest son of Zimbabwe's former President, Robert Mugabe, has brought renewed attention to the former first family and their controversies over the years.

Bellarmine Mugabe, who is due in court on Wednesday for a bail hearing, is accused of attempted murder, among other charges, after a 23-year-old man was shot and injured at a property in an upmarket suburb of Johannesburg.

He has not commented on the charges.

His father ruled Zimbabwe for 37 years before being forced from power at 93 in 2017. He died two years later.

Managing editor of the privately owned Zimbabwean website NewsHawks, Dumisani Muleya, told the BBC that the Mugabe family had "lived a life of privilege" and that the children "grew up in that environment where they were protected from the broader realities of the Zimbabwean political and socio-economic situation".

The family had amassed a vast personal fortune, including $10m (£7.5m) in cash, four houses, 10 cars, a farm and an orchard among other assets.

These details emerged three months after Robert Mugabe's death in a legal letter submitted to the high court in Zimbabwe by his daughter Bona. At the time, a lawyer for the family, Terrence Hussein, told the BBC that none of the properties was under the former leader's name.

In 2013, Grace denied that her husband was accumulating wealth while in office, saying he did not earn as much as people thought because he was a civil servant.

"The allowance I get is just a pittance. I'm a business-minded person [and] I support my husband [by] running our private businesses," she said.

Here is a run-down of what has happened to the family members:

Bellarmine Mugabe

Like his siblings, he grew up in the public eye and was scrutinised from a young age.

But as a teenager, it was Bellarmine's approach to studying that appeared to concern his parents.

In a 2013 wide-ranging interview on South African television, they described his playfulness and lack of focus on academics.

Grace said she wanted him to "change his ways" and "concentrate on his studies".

"He should be more serious than he is at the moment," his father added.

Bellarmine sheepishly admitted to spending more time on video games than on his schoolwork.

In 2017, a few weeks before the coup that ousted his father, he posted a picture of a US$60 000 watch he was wearing.

A few months earlier, the brothers were reportedly kicked out of a luxury apartment block in the affluent Johannesburg suburb of Sandton after complaints about the noise they were making.

There have also been several brushes with the law more recently.

In 2024, he was arrested for allegedly assaulting a police officer in the Zimbabwean border town of Beitbridge.

He was granted bail, but a warrant for his arrest was issued after he failed to appear in court, Zimbabwe's state-run Herald newspaper reported at the time.

A year later, in June, he was again arrested for assaulting a security guard at a mining site in Mazowe, an hour's drive north of the capital, Harare.

He was bailed, and the case has not yet concluded.

The case against Bellarmine in South Africa has faced several delays since his arrest in mid-February, and his bail application hearing has already been postponed twice.

Also no stranger to run-ins with the police, Robert Jr was arrested in 2023 over allegations he damaged property at a party in Harare.

He faced three counts of malicious property damage and two charges of assault on a police officer, his lawyer said at the time. He was accused of smashing car windscreens and spitting on a police officer.

He maintained his innocence and was later freed after agreeing to an out-of-court settlement with the complainant, who was a friend of his.

In 2025, after pleading guilty, Robert Jr was convicted and fined in Zimbabwe for possession of cannabis.

He had been arrested as he drove the wrong way down a one-way street, according to court documents. Police searched a black sling bag he was wearing at the time and allegedly found two small sachets of cannabis.

Officers said they had recovered 2g (0.07 oz) of cannabis, with a street value of $30, but his lawyer said the amount was 0.02g.

Grace Mugabe

The former first lady, now 60, gained a reputation, and criticism, over the years for her alleged appetite for shopping and extravagance, earning her the moniker "Gucci Grace".

She denied the disparaging accusations and, in the 2013 interview, said detractors believed she was a "soft target".

"I'm not really what they say I am and I'm actually surprised by some of the things they say. I work so hard and I don't have time to pamper myself. I make my own clothes and tie my own scarf," she said.

In the latter part of her husband's presidency, she began positioning herself as a potential successor.

She headed the women's league of Zimbabwe's ruling Zanu-PF party and was instrumental in the sidelining of several rival candidates.