Extraditing Grace would be ‘harassment’

Zimbabwe’s deputy information minister says extraditing former first lady Grace Mugabe to SA would constitute “harassment”.

The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has issued an arrest warrant for the former first lady in connection with her alleged assault of model Gabriella Engels‚ who was partying with Mugabe’s sons at a hotel in Johannesburg in 2017.

While charges were laid‚ Mugabe was controversially allowed to leave the country after the SA government granted her diplomatic immunity.

That decision was overturned by the high court in July after Engels appealed against the decision.

Lobby group AfriForum revealed the existence of the warrant at a media conference on Wednesday.

As a member of the international police body Interpol‚ Zimbabwe has an obligation to hand Mugabe over for prosecution.

But the country’s deputy information minister Energy Mutodi said the former first lady was unlikely to be extradited.

“We believe she enjoys diplomatic immunity,” he said on Wednesday.

“We will not smile on any attempt to embarrass‚ ill-treat or diminish the image of former president Robert Mugabe or his immediate family,” he said.

“An attack on Grace Mugabe is an attack on the former president. President Mugabe is our founding father and liberation icon and his misery is undesirable to us.”

Mutodi said Zimbabwe would not extradite Grace as this would constitute “harassment”.

Harare lawyer Wilson Manase‚ who has represented Grace Mugabe before‚ said he had no instructions to represent her.

Engels’s mother, Debbie Engels, said in July: “I told my daughter that no matter what happens‚ I’m proud of her.” –