Bellarmine Mugabe's cousin, Tobias Matonhodze, begins serving 3-year sentence

Tobias Matonhodze, the cousin of deported Bellarmine Mugabe, begins serving his three-year prison sentence on Thursday.

On Wednesday, the Alexandra Magistrates Court handed Matonhodze a jail term, while his co-accused flew back home to Zimbabwe after paying a R600,000 fine.

Matonhodze pleaded guilty to charges including attempted murder, defeating the ends of justice, possession of an illegal firearm and ammunition and contravening the Immigration Act.

While handing down the sentence, Magistrate Renier Boshoff said pleading guilty and putting himself at the mercy of the court worked in Matonhodze’s favour, as he faced far more serious charges than his co-accused

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“It took some guts from you to plead guilty to all these counts, so basically, what you did [accused] number 2, you put yourself at the mercy of this court by pleading guilty. That says quite a lot in your favour.”

Boshoff added that despite his guilty plea, a custodial sentence was necessary.

“All these offences are offences where direct long-term imprisonment [applies]. I’m talking 10 to 15 years, even longer are the rule rather than the exception.”

His lawyer, who also represented Mugabe in the matter, Sinenhlanhla Mnguni, denied that Matonhodze took the rap for the former president’s son, hinting at the possibility of an early release.

“I think when you look at it holistically, both accused received the mercy of the court.”