Mrs Mugabe ‘must face law’

Former African Union Commission chairperson, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, pictured, yesterday said Zimbabwe’s First Lady Grace Mugabe, who is accused of beating up a young South African model, must face the law.

Answering questions at her book launch, Dlamini-Zuma said women were capable leaders and the bad behaviour of one woman should not be allowed to taint all women.

Grace Mugabe, 52, allegedly used an electric extension cord with a plug at one end to whip 20-year-old Gabriella Engels and her friend after she found them at the hotel where her sons, Robert Jnr and Chatunga Bellarmine, were staying since being evicted from their R74 000-a-month Sandton apartment for brawling.

The attack, which left Engels with a gash on the face and bruises to the body, took place on Sunday.

Grace Mugabe remains at the centre of a diplomatic riddle as questions over her immunity from prosecution persist.

“Whether one beats another … it is wrong and the law must take its course,” said Dlamini-Zuma, who is in the running to lead the ANC in December when the party will elect a fresh leadership. “We are sexist, we are in a patriarchal society and we must get out of it.”

Dismissing suggestions that Grace Mugabe’s alleged bad behaviour was a blight on women aspiring to lead, Dlamini-Zuma said “women are human beings. Like anybody else some make mistakes, just like men do.”

President Robert Mugabe arrived in SA late on Wednesday for this week’s 37th Southern African Development Community summit in Pretoria. Reports said he arrived earlier in order to deal with his wife’s woes. – ANA