Grace Mugabe claims diplomatic immunity

JOHANNESBURG: Zimbabwe’s first lady Grace Mugabe has claimed diplomatic immunity after being accused of assaulting a 20-year-old model, South African police said on Wednesday, in an incident that could test cross-border relations.

The 52-year-old wife of President Robert Mugabe is accused of attacking Gabriella Engels ( pix) on Sunday evening at a Johannesburg hotel where the first lady’s two sons Robert and Chatunga were staying.

Engels has registered a police case alleging assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm, saying she suffered deep cuts to her forehead and the back of her head.

“The (suspect’s) lawyers and her government representatives made verbal representations that the suspect wished to invoke diplomatic immunity cover,” the police ministry said in a statement.

The police said that Grace had been expected to report to a police station on Tuesday to give her version of the events and “to obtain a warning statement”, but she failed to show up.

They added that she would attend at the weekend a summit of the Southern African Development Community in Pretoria where her husband and other heads of state will be present.

Her official duties at the summit could bolster her claim to diplomatic immunity, after her trip to see her sons was widely described as private.

South African foreign ministry spokesman Clayson Monyela had said on Tuesday that her trip was “a private visit, so government cannot get involved”.

Her husband flew out of Harare for South Africa on Wednesday evening for the summit, according to the Zimbabwean public broadcaster ZBC. – AFP