Grace Mugabe must immediately surrender all of her passports to ensure that she does not flee the country

Grace Mugabe must today hand over all of her passports to the South African government as a show of good faith to ensure that she does not flee the country. Until she does so, she remains a massive flight risk.

While the Departments of Police and International Relations, as well as the NPA, play for touch with what is fast becoming a diplomatic runaround, the facts remain. Grace Mugabe needs to be arrested to face charges of assault with the intent to do grievous bodily harm – charges for which the investigation is complete and ready for court.

The DA has already confirmed that Ms Mugabe does not qualify for diplomatic immunity, and reports today confirm that the government is similarly in possession of a legal opinion to this effect.

However, the current delays and previous events with Al Bashir mean it is imperative that South Africa be assured that Grace Mugabe will not flee the country in order to evade justice. The only way to ensure this is for all her passports to immediately be surrendered.

I will also be writing to both the Minister of Police, Fikile Mbalula, and the Acting National Police Commissioner, Lieutenant General Lesetja Mothiba, to urge them in the strongest terms to issue a warrant of arrest against Ms Mugabe.

No one is above the law and the DA will do everything possible to ensure that Ms Mugabe is not allowed to flee South Africa before she faces up to the charges against her.

Statement issued by Zakhele Mbhele MP, DA Shadow Minister of Police, 18 August 2017