FULL DETAILS: Chatunga Mugabe arrested after alleged assault of ZACC officer in luxury vehicle probe
HARARE — Bellarmine Chatunga Mugabe, the 29-year-old son of Zimbabwe’s late former president Robert Mugabe, was arrested with four other men after a Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission operation to seize two luxury vehicles suspected of being kept in the country unlawfully ended in an alleged assault on an investigator.
The vehicles, a black Lamborghini Urus and a Mercedes-Benz GLE 53, were found at Brompton Guest Lodge in Newlands, Harare. Investigators believe the South African-registered SUVs had remained in Zimbabwe after their temporary import permits expired, while customs records showed that they had left the country.
Police said the arrests followed an incident at the lodge at about 6.30pm on Tuesday, November 3. The five men were detained at Highlands Police Station. They were expected to appear in court on Thursday, November 5.
The four men named alongside Chatunga are Munashe Mubawu, 43, Terrence Johannes Chinyemba, 42, Fredson Peter, 33, and Solomon Pamire, 34. Police spokesman Commissioner Paul Nyathi confirmed their arrest in connection with an assault case at the lodge.
The operation was led by ZACC’s Special Operations Unit after the commission received information that the vehicles were being kept at the Newlands property. ZACC spokesperson Simiso Mlevu said investigators had followed up on the information and traced the cars to the premises.
“ZACC acted on the information that these vehicles are in the country illegally. Indications are that the vehicles got into the country through ZIMRA-issued temporary import permits on different dates,” Mlevu said.
She said the Lamborghini entered Zimbabwe in June 2026. Records held by the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority, or ZIMRA, showed it leaving for South Africa on July 12. On that same day, the Mercedes-Benz GLE 53 was recorded as entering Zimbabwe. Its recorded departure for South Africa was October 10.
Investigators said the vehicles were nevertheless found together in Harare. They suspect that the records showing the SUVs had exited did not match what happened in practice, and that both cars had been kept in Zimbabwe rather than taken back across the border. The vehicles were reportedly concealed at the lodge for about a month before the raid.
The vehicles remained in ZACC’s custody after the operation. Their location at the lodge, their registration and customs documents, and the records of their movements across the border are central to the investigation. Authorities have not publicly set out how the alleged departures were entered into the records or who was responsible for the paperwork.
Mlevu also described the confrontation during the seizure operation. “One of our officials was assaulted by the suspects who are allegedly involved in the smuggling of the vehicles and the matter was reported to the police.”
The allegations against the five men relate to both the alleged assault and the vehicles. Police confirmed the arrests in connection with the assault at Brompton Guest Lodge. Case information identifies ZIMRA as the complainant and describes alleged offences involving fraud, smuggling under customs law and assaulting a law enforcement officer. The two SUVs have been impounded as evidence.
Accounts released about the vehicle paperwork describe an important difference. Mlevu said the vehicles entered under temporary import permits and that official records showed their apparent exits on separate dates. Information summarising the police case papers, however, said investigators established that neither vehicle had a temporary import permit or an official entry record. The accounts do not explain how those descriptions fit together. Both point to the same central question in the inquiry: how the vehicles came to be at a Harare lodge after the border records indicated they had left Zimbabwe.
Temporary Importation Permits allow qualifying visitors who ordinarily live outside Zimbabwe to bring foreign-registered vehicles into the country for a limited stay. The permits are not a route to permanently keep a vehicle in Zimbabwe without completing the applicable customs requirements. A vehicle brought in under a TIP is required to leave the country before the permit expires, unless ZIMRA has approved an extension.
Under the notice, a TIP will ordinarily be issued for no more than 30 days. A longer stay may be considered individually, but the total period cannot exceed 3 months. Any extension request must be submitted before the permit expires and supported by valid reasons and documents.
Applicants must present a valid passport and the original vehicle registration book. If the driver is not the registered owner, ZIMRA may require a letter of authority or an affidavit. Zimbabweans living abroad must also provide a work, employment, study or residence permit. The authority says some applications, particularly those involving vehicles driven by someone other than the registered owner, may undergo additional checks.
The permit conditions also require the vehicle to remain under the permit holder’s control. It may not be sold or otherwise disposed of in Zimbabwe without ZIMRA’s approval. The permit holder must not leave the country without the vehicle unless prior arrangements have been made with a ZIMRA office.
The notice was issued less than 2 weeks before the Harare operation, but it is a broad policy governing foreign-registered vehicles and temporary permits. It does not name the seized SUVs or the people now under investigation. The authority’s stated concern is that the permit facility has been abused, while investigators in the present case are examining whether the records and movements of these two vehicles complied with customs rules.
ZIMRA is the primary complainant in the case, while ZACC investigators carried out the operation to locate and seize the vehicles. The inquiry now centres on the cars’ import history, the permit and exit entries, their presence at the lodge and the events that followed when investigators moved to impound them.
The police account places the alleged assault at about 6.30pm on November 3, during the operation at Brompton Guest Lodge. The officer’s name and the extent of any injuries have not been made public. ZACC said the matter was reported to police, who then arrested Chatunga and the four other men.
Chatunga is the youngest son of Robert Mugabe, who ruled Zimbabwe from independence in 1980 until he was removed from power in 2017 and died in 2019. The latest arrest has drawn attention because of his family name, but the immediate case concerns the two seized vehicles, the suspected customs violations and the alleged attack on a ZACC investigator.
At the time of the arrests, authorities had not publicly detailed the alleged role of each man in importing, possessing or concealing the vehicles. Nor had they explained who arranged the permits, who may have controlled the cars, or who was responsible for the border entries. Those questions are part of the investigation following the seizure.
The next stage was expected to take place in court on November 5, when the five men were due to appear. The Lamborghini Urus and Mercedes-Benz GLE 53 remained impounded as investigators pursued the case.