No kid gloves for Grace, please
We trust the allegations that Zimbabwe’s first lady Grace Mugabe beat up a young woman in a Johannesburg hotel room at the weekend will be properly investigated by the police and, if found guilty, that she face the full might of the law.
According to the 20-year old alleged victim, Gabriella Engels, she and two friends were visiting Mugabe’s two sons Robert Junior, 25, and Chatunga Bellarmine, 21, when Grace, accompanied by bodyguards, showed up and attacked the women with an extension cord.
Engels reported the alleged assault to the police and the Zimbabwean first lady turned herself in to the authorities yesterday.
Police Minister Fikile Mbalula had initially hinted that she enjoyed diplomatic immunity.
However, Mbalula’s provincial counterpart, Gauteng community safety MEC Sizakele NkosiMalobane, differed with him. She urged the police to investigate the alleged assault.
Her stance deserves commendation.
The case, no doubt, is a political hot potato for the government. Grace’s husband, President Robert Mugabe, is hero-worshipped by large sections of South Africa’s black population – including many leading members of the ruling party – owing to his struggle credentials in his country.
The fact that he has almost single-handedly destroyed his country’s economy, reducing millions of his compatriots to lives of penury, has not changed the high regard with which he is held in this country.
But the law is the law and, in theory at least, all are supposed to be equal before it.
Grace stands accused of a criminal act. She must be held accountable for her behaviour.
That case is being investigated is a step in the right direction.
We trust and hope that the case will not be botched and experienced police investigators and prosecutors will be assigned to handle it.
There are justified public perceptions in this country that if you are rich and powerful, you can break the law and get away with it.
We trust that in this matter that will not be the case and Grace will not receive special favours.
We shall watch developments with keen interest.