Grace Mugabe Skips Court Appearance After Alleged Assault Charge

Following claims that she assaulted a lady in South Africa, First Lady of Zimbabwe, Grace Mugabe is reportedly back in her home country. Earlier, South African police had been negotiating with her lawyers to get her to turn herself in to face charges of assault in a court room but it seems this might not be. Twenty-year-old Gabriella Engels told South African media Grace had attacked her with an electrical extension cord after the model had gone to see the Mugabes’ sons Robert and Chatunga at a hotel in Johannesburg’s upmarket Sandton district on Sunday.
However, confusion still surrounded the case as at Tuesday after South African police minister Fikile Mbalula said earlier in the day that Grace had already handed herself in to police and would appear in court shortly. In the afternoon, the magistrates’ court where police said Grace would be formally charged closed for the day without her appearing. The case threatens to trigger a diplomatic disagreement between the two countries as they share a border. Opposition parties within Zimbabwe are also clamouring for the First Lady to be prosecuted.