JOHANNESBURG: Lawyers for the young model who claims she was assaulted by Zimbabwe’s first lady Grace Mugabe in a Johannesburg hotel said Thursday that her family had been approached with an offer of money to drop the allegation.
South African police issued a “red alert” to prevent Mugabe from leaving the country after Zimbabwe’s government requested diplomatic immunity.
Lawyers for 20-year-old Gabriella Engels threatened to go to court if South Africa’s government grants Mugabe immunity, saying it cannot be used to “escape prosecution from grave crimes.”
The lawyers said Engels’ family had been approached with an offer of “financial compensation” by a third party, which Engels refused. “They made an offer and said ‘Let us talk, this will go away.’ ... There was no amount mentioned,” said Gerrie Nel, a prominent South African lawyer who has offered his assistance to Engels.
In a letter sent Thursday to the South African government, Willie Spies, another lawyer involved in the case, said the offer was made Tuesday and suggested that Engels should “come up with a figure so that parties could meet in order to settle the matter quietly.”
The scandal has become a diplomatic mess for South Africa’s government and Zimbabwe’s 93-year-old President Robert Mugabe, who arrived in South Africa’s capital late Wednesday apparently to deal with the crisis. He came early for a regional summit of southern African nations this weekend.
South Africa’s minister of police, Fikile Mbalula, said all borders had been notified to prevent Grace Mugabe from leaving the country before the matter is resolved, the African News Agency reported. “The red alert has been put,” Mbalula told reporters.
South African authorities are debating whether to grant the 52-year-old Mugabe diplomatic immunity.
Engels has registered a case with police accusing Mugabe of attacking her with an extension cord in a luxury hotel in a Johannesburg suburb late Sunday. Engels said she was in a hotel room with mutual friends of Mugabe’s two sons, who live in Johannesburg, when the first lady burst in and assaulted her. Photos of Engels posted on social media show a bloody gash to her forehead that she claimed was a result of the encounter.
Police said they’ve completed their investigation into the case and are waiting for direction from South Africa’s government on the status of Mugabe’s immunity request.
The question of immunity is “totally out of our jurisdiction,” said Brig. Vishnu Naidoo, a police spokesman. Until there is a decision on the immunity application, he said, “the whole investigation is in abeyance.”
Engels has been offered legal help by Nel, a former state prosecutor who now works as a private prosecutor for AfriForum, an organization that primarily represents the rights of South Africa’s white Afrikaner minority. Nel secured the murder conviction of Oscar Pistorius.
If Engels’ case goes to court and Mugabe is convicted a jail sentence could be possible, Nel said.
Engels attended a news conference on Thursday, a bandage still on her forehead, but did not comment. Her mother, Debbie Engels, thanked AfriForum for offering to help.
“Now I know this woman is not going to get off scot-free for what she did to my child,” she said.
It is unclear whether Grace Mugabe entered South Africa with a personal or diplomatic passport. Zimbabwe’s state-owned Herald newspaper reported last weekend that she was in South Africa seeking medical care.
The debate over whether Mugabe should be granted immunity quickly took on a political dimension in South Africa, with the opposition Democratic Alliance calling on President Jacob Zuma’s Cabinet to ensure the first lady is brought to justice.
“Ms. Mugabe should have applied for diplomatic immunity before she came to our country, not after she finds herself facing criminal charges,” said Zakhele Mbhele, a member of parliament for the Democratic Alliance. He said the police minister “needs to do his job and ensure she is arrested and has her day in court to answer the serious charges against her.”
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‘Red alert’ over Zimbabwe first lady, accused of assault
‘Red alert’ over Zimbabwe first lady, accused of assault
N Korean leader’s daughter fuels succession speculation with mausoleum visit
SEOUL: The North Korean leader’s daughter Kim Ju Ae has made her first public visit to a mausoleum housing her grandfather and great-grandfather, state media images showed Friday, further solidifying her place as likely next in line to run the nuclear-armed dictatorship.
The Kim family has ruled North Korea with an iron grip for decades, and a cult of personality surrounding their so-called “Paektu bloodline” dominates daily life in the isolated country.
Current leader Kim Jong Un is the third in line to rule in the world’s only communist monarchy, following his father Kim Jong Il and grandfather Kim Il Sung.
The two men — dubbed “eternal leaders” in state propaganda — are housed in the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, a vast mausoleum in downtown Pyongyang.
The state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported that Kim Jong Un had visited the palace, accompanied by top officials. Images released by the agency showed daughter Ju Ae alongside him.
South Korea’s spy agency said last year she was now understood to be the next in line to rule North Korea after she accompanied her father on a high-profile visit to Beijing.
- ‘Presented as Kim’s successor’ -
And Cheong Seong-chang at Seoul’s Sejong Institute said he expected her to soon be “formally confirmed as the next successor both domestically and internationally.”
Cheong, author of a book on the Kim leadership, said her placement in the center of the front row during her visit to the place — a place typically reserved for her father — was especially notable.
It could be “interpreted as reporting to the ‘eternal leaders’ Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il that she is being presented as his successor,” he said.
Ju Ae was publicly introduced to the world in 2022 when she accompanied her father to an intercontinental ballistic missile launch.
North Korean state media have since referred to her as “the beloved child,” and a “great person of guidance” — “hyangdo” in Korean — a term typically reserved for top leaders and their successors.
Before 2022, the only confirmation of her existence had come from former NBA star Dennis Rodman, who made a visit to the North in 2013.
Analysts have suggested that she could be elected First Secretary of the Central Committee, the second most powerful position in the North Korean ruling party, at a landmark congress due to be held in the coming weeks.
On Thursday, footage showed Ju Ae accompanying her parents at New Year celebrations in Pyongyang.
While first lady Ri Sol Ju kept a low profile, state TV showed Ju Ae placing one hand on the North Korean leader’s face and kissing him on the cheek — a rare public display of affection which drew headlines in South Korea.
The Kim family has ruled North Korea with an iron grip for decades, and a cult of personality surrounding their so-called “Paektu bloodline” dominates daily life in the isolated country.
Current leader Kim Jong Un is the third in line to rule in the world’s only communist monarchy, following his father Kim Jong Il and grandfather Kim Il Sung.
The two men — dubbed “eternal leaders” in state propaganda — are housed in the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, a vast mausoleum in downtown Pyongyang.
The state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported that Kim Jong Un had visited the palace, accompanied by top officials. Images released by the agency showed daughter Ju Ae alongside him.
South Korea’s spy agency said last year she was now understood to be the next in line to rule North Korea after she accompanied her father on a high-profile visit to Beijing.
- ‘Presented as Kim’s successor’ -
And Cheong Seong-chang at Seoul’s Sejong Institute said he expected her to soon be “formally confirmed as the next successor both domestically and internationally.”
Cheong, author of a book on the Kim leadership, said her placement in the center of the front row during her visit to the place — a place typically reserved for her father — was especially notable.
It could be “interpreted as reporting to the ‘eternal leaders’ Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il that she is being presented as his successor,” he said.
Ju Ae was publicly introduced to the world in 2022 when she accompanied her father to an intercontinental ballistic missile launch.
North Korean state media have since referred to her as “the beloved child,” and a “great person of guidance” — “hyangdo” in Korean — a term typically reserved for top leaders and their successors.
Before 2022, the only confirmation of her existence had come from former NBA star Dennis Rodman, who made a visit to the North in 2013.
Analysts have suggested that she could be elected First Secretary of the Central Committee, the second most powerful position in the North Korean ruling party, at a landmark congress due to be held in the coming weeks.
On Thursday, footage showed Ju Ae accompanying her parents at New Year celebrations in Pyongyang.
While first lady Ri Sol Ju kept a low profile, state TV showed Ju Ae placing one hand on the North Korean leader’s face and kissing him on the cheek — a rare public display of affection which drew headlines in South Korea.
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