JOHANNESBURG (AP) – The wife of Zimbabwe’s president handed herself over to police in South Africa on Tuesday after being accused of assaulting a young woman at an upscale Johannesburg hotel, South Africa’s police minister said.
Grace Mugabe was due to appear in court Tuesday afternoon, local news outlet eNCA reported.
The case draws yet more attention to the increasingly outspoken wife of the world’s oldest head of state, 93-year-old President Robert Mugabe. Last month she challenged her husband publicly for the first time to name a successor, positioning herself as a possibility as his advanced age takes a toll ahead of next year’s election.
Grace Mugabe is “not under arrest because she cooperated and handed herself over,” Minister of Police Fikile Mbalula said in a video posted on eNCA.
Twenty-year-old model Gabriella Engels has accused Mugabe of assaulting her Sunday night while she was visiting Mugabe’s sons in a hotel room in an upscale Johannesburg suburb. She claims the first lady’s bodyguards stood by and watched as Mugabe attacked her.