Grace Mugabe leaves South Africa, no assault charge

South African authorities have allowed Zimbabwe’s first lady Grace
Mugabe return to Harare, without pressing the charge of assault against
her.

Zimbabwe media confirmed Grace’s arrival in Harare, a week after a
20-year-old model, Gabriella Engels, accused her of assault in an
upmarket Johannesburg hotel room.

Although South African police claimed to have placed border posts on
“red alert” to prevent her leaving the country, it is now confirmed that
the wife of 93-year-old President Robert Mugabe had been granted
diplomatic immunity.

Zimbabwean state media reported that the president and first lady
arrived in Harare aboard an Air Zimbabwe plane in the early hours of
Sunday. A source confirmed this to Reuters.

A bruised Gabriella Engels has accused Grace Mugabe of whipping her with
an electric extension cable a week ago as she waited with two friends
in a luxury hotel suite to meet one of Mugabe’s adult sons.

President Mugabe attended a South African Development Community summit
in Pretoria on Saturday, but his 52-year-old wife was not there or part
of his delegation.

Harare has made no official comment on the saga and requests for comment
from Zimbabwean government officials have gone unanswered. The South
African government has limited all official comment to the police
ministry and international relations department spokespeople did not
answer calls for comment.

South Africa’s main opposition, the Democratic Alliance, blamed the
ministers of police, international relations and defense for the failure
to detain Mugabe and said it wants the matter investigated.

“The DA will be demanding an immediate parliamentary inquiry into (the)
government’s complicity in allowing Zimbabwean First Lady Grace Mugabe
to flee the country in the dead of night to avoid criminal prosecution,”
DA whip John Steenhuisen said in a statement.

Compounding the awkward diplomatic situation, commercial flights between
Zimbabwe and South Africa were grounded on Friday and Saturday,
affecting both national carriers, after unexpected checks for operating
permits.

South African Airways resumed flights to Zimbabwe, it said in a
statement on Sunday, and an Air Zimbabwe flight also departed from
Harare to South Africa on Sunday morning.