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Disgraced Mugabe turns SADC summit on its head

Publish date: 21 August 2017
Issue Number: 739
Diary: IBA Legalbrief Africa
Category: Corruption

Just as the dust begins to settle following Pretoria’s dramatic stand-off with the International Criminal Court over its decision to host fugitive (and Sudanese President) Omar al-Bashir, Zimbabwean First Lady Grace Mugabe has turned a high-profile SADC summit on its head and knocked the stuffing out of what little was left of South Africa’s international credibility. Legalbrief reports that Mugabe’s vicious assault on a young Johannesburg model sparked a diplomatic storm that eventually saw South Africa granting immunity to Zimbabwe’s disgraced presidential hopeful. But like the al-Bashir debacle, Mugabe is not off the hook and bulldog prosecutor Gerrie Nel is spoiling for the biggest legal battle of his extraordinary career. The drama began when 20-year-old model Gabriella Engels said Mugabe attacked her with an extension cord in a luxury hotel on 13 August. Photos posted on social media show bloody gashes on her forehead. The Sunday Times reports that a waitress also suffered a miscarriage after she was allegedly pushed by Robert Mugabe jnr as he fled his mother's violent attack. The waitress at Capital 20 West was delivering food when Robert jnr ran past her and pushed her out of the way. The woman fell to the ground and was rushed to hospital, where she later lost her baby. A hotel employee confirmed the incident. ‘She was not hit by Grace. It was Robert jnr who pushed her out of the way as he ran away from his mother. Grace did hit staff members ... She was hitting everyone – her sons, their friends, the girls and staff members, the source reportedly said. Garnet Basson, COO at The Capital Hotel Group, said ‘we are handling this thing internally. Please respect that. We will decide on how to deal with this matter going forward’.

Full Sunday Times report (subscription needed)

The matter escalated into a major diplomatic row when an Air Zimbabwe passenger flight was prohibited from taking off from OR Tambo International Airport after an inspection by the South African Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) on Friday night. The Zimbabwean aviation authority hit back on Saturday morning by preventing one of SAA’s scheduled flights departing from Harare. Aviation sources said Air Zimbabwe’s Boeing 767-200 stranded at OR Tambo was the one Mugabe normally uses for international travels. The CAA’s official statement said it conducted a routine inspection of the Boeing 767-200 required by international aviation regulations and found that the aircraft’s foreign operator’s licence, which allows it to fly internationally, and other prescribed documents were not on board. But City Press learnt from pilots that there is a bilateral agreement between airlines operating in Southern Africa that crews do not have to have the permits on board. The issue was resolved yesterday.

Full City Press report

International Relations Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane said Mugabe’s diplomatic immunity was warranted. ‘The Minister has made the determination that the conferring of diplomatic immunity is warranted in this particular instance. The department wishes to convey the message that the Minister has agonised over this matter and the decision was not an easy one to make,’ the Department of International Relations and Co-operation (Dirco) said yesterday. The Dirco statement notes Nkoana-Mashabane said she considered several factors such as the need to uphold the rule of law, ensure fair administration of justice, and uphold the rights of the complainant before making her final decision. Other factors were the imperative to maintain good inter-governmental relations within the SADC region, and in particular, between South Africa and Zimbabwe. This also has to do with the incident coinciding with South Africa’s hosting of the 37th SADC Summit of Heads of State and Government (which ended yesterday) and legal matters. The First Lady and President Robert Mugabe were met by senior government officials after they landed in Harare early yesterday morning. A report on the EWN site notes that Mugabe, who attended the opening ceremony of the SADC summit on Saturday, was replaced by the country's Foreign Affairs permanent secretary Ambassador Joey Bimha.

Full report on the EWN site

Full Dirco statement

Not surprisingly, the official opposition parties - in both countries – have reacted with outrage. In South Africa, the DA said it will be demanding an immediate parliamentary inquiry into government’s complicity in allowing Grace Mugabe ‘to flee the country in the dead of night to avoid criminal prosecution’. ‘It is simply inexplicable how this has happened again. It illustrates how unrepentant the ANC government is and, following its complicity in allowing Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir to escape an international arrest warrant, shows that the ANC government will continue to do exactly what it wants to protect their dodgy friends,’ said DA MP John Steenhuisen. He said the government has no more legitimacy in the arena of international diplomacy and displays a total disregard for the rule of law. In Zimbabwe, the MDC described Mugabe as a ‘disgrace’ and said she should have faced justice in South Africa. MDC spokesperson Obert Gutu reportedly told News24 that it was regrettable that South African authorities decided not to prosecute the Zimbabwean First Lady after committing such a ‘heinous crime’. ‘Grace Mugabe is a violent, crude, uncouth and disgraceful character. It is very unfortunate that SA decided to grant her diplomatic immunity,’ Gutu is quoted in the report as saying.

Full Fin24 report

Nkoana-Mashabane gazetted a notice granting Mugabe immunity after she had already left the country with her husband on Saturday, notes a Daily Maverick report. The report says the Minister’s delay in granting immunity was apparently a deliberate ploy to forestall any legal challenges to the move before the Mugabes had left the country. The National Prosecuting Authority could not lay charges against her while Nkoana-Mashabane was considering whether or not to grant her immunity. And the activist group AfriForum, which took up Engels’ case, could not launch a private prosecution until the NPA had decided not to prosecute. Professor Andre Thomashausen, former professor of international law at Unisa, said: ‘The granting of baseless, ad hoc diplomatic immunity to retrospectively shield a person from criminal and civil liability for serious assault charges is a blatant abuse of national and international law. It is clearly opportunistic, meaning no actual good reason for such immunity exists other than to cover up a criminal conduct. It taints the government as lacking in respect for international law, compassion for victims of abuse and honesty. It makes a mockery of every due process and will further diminish the international standing of SA.’ A report in The Citizen says social media users are questioning the dates on the letter. They have asked how a letter that was drafted on 20 August was signed on 19 August.

Full report on the Daily Maverick site

Full report in The Witness

It is not the end of the matter and the fight for justice will continue, civil rights watchdog AfriForum has warned. A TimesLIVE report notes that Willie Spies‚ AfriForum’s legal representative, said the organisation had already given notice on Friday that the organisation would assist Engels in bringing a review application in order to set aside the decision to grant diplomatic immunity to Grace Mugabe. The Star quotes AfriForum chief executive Kallie Kriel as saying: ‘If the review application is successful, and there are good grounds to believe that such an application will succeed, the doors will be open for the NPA to prosecute Mrs Mugabe.’ If the NPA refused to prosecute her, their private prosecution unit would begin with the private prosecution proceedings, he added. And Parliament’s chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on International Relations, Siphosezwe Masango, said they would discuss the matter in the ANC’s study group tomorrow. He said they hadn’t had time to discuss it since the furore began, and tomorrow’s meeting should come up with a decision.

– TimesLIVE

Full report in The Star

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