Zimbabwe’s deputy information minister says extraditing former first lady Grace Mugabe to SA would constitute “harassment”. The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has issued an arrest warrant for the former first lady in connection with her alleged assault of model Gabriella Engels, who was partying with Mugabe’s sons at a Johannesburg hotel in 2017. While charges were laid‚ Mugabe was controversially allowed to leave the country after the SA government granted her diplomatic immunity. That decision was overturned by the high court in July after Engels appealed the decision. Lobby group AfriForum revealed the news about the warrant at a media conference on Wednesday.

As a member of the international police body Interpol, Zimbabwe has an obligation to hand over Mugabe for prosecution. But the country’s deputy information minister, Energy Mutodi, said the former first lady is unlikely to be extradited because “we believe she enjoys the diplomatic immunity accorded to diplomats...

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