S Africa Grants Immunity to Zimbabwe First Lady Over Alleged Assault Case

South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation announced in a statement Sunday that Zimbabwe’s First Lady Grace Mugabe was granted diplomatic immunity over an alleged case of attacking a person in South Africa.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Last week, media reported that model Gabriella Engels claimed that Grace Mugabe attacked and beat her in a South African hotel.

"On Wednesday, 16 August 2017, the Embassy of the Republic of Zimbabwe invoked immunities of Dr Grace Mugabe in relation to the alleged case of assault widely reported in the media. After careful consideration of all the relevant factors … the Minister has made the determination that the conferring of diplomatic immunity is warranted in this particular instance," the statement reads.

Police earlier rejected diplomatic immunity for Robert Mugabe's wife. 

Although he is 93, Mr. Mugabe retains a vice-like grip on Zimbabwe and last year he was confirmed as the ruling ZANU party's candidate for next year's presidential election.