article: In a BBC interview, Debbie Engels said the government chose "its allies over protecting its own citizen" by refusing to prosecute Mrs Mugabe, 52, on assault charges. The Department of International Relations granted Mrs Mugabe diplomatic immunity on 19 August, which meant she could travel back home with her husband, President Robert Mugabe, who was in South Africa for a summit of regional leaders. "I half-expected it but when you hear the news it still comes as a shock," Ms Engels said. Mrs Mugabe made headlines after the model laid a complaint with police, accusing the first lady of hitting her with an electrical extension cord on 13 August, almost a week before the first lady was granted immunity. The alleged assault took place after Mrs Mugabe found the model and some of her friends in a plush hotel room where the first lady's two sons - Robert Mugabe Jr, 23, and Chatunga Bellarmine Mugabe, 20 - live in Johannesburg's affluent Sandton suburb. According to the young woman, they were guests of the sons, whom they had met the previous day, and they were having drinks when Mrs Mugabe stormed in. "She hit us with so much hate. Like, I don't understand why she attacked us like that. Until this day my friends and I don't understand why this woman attacked us the way she did for no reason at all," she told me. This is not the first time that the Mugabe family's behaviour in South Africa has made headlines - in July, the Zimbabwe Independent newspaper reported that the pair had been evicted from a luxury apartment block in the same area after a brawl with some of their guests. Zimbabwean newspapers reported that their first lady had to make an "emergency" trip to South Africa to find "secure accommodation" for their two sons. Mr and Mrs Mugabe's sons, who apparently have a taste for the finer things in life in the form of champagne and designer clothes, have a reputation for partying hard. They are studying in Johannesburg and, according to local papers, the two have not been doing well in their studies, unlike their father, who boasts several university degrees. Partying is not a crime - though it could incur the wrath of parents, especially if it is overdone. But beating up someone certainly is, and Ms Engels's lawyers laid a complaint of "assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm" against Mrs Mugabe. Although the case failed to get to court, Ms Engels' lawyers say the fight is not over. The rise of Grace Mugabe The Engels family has an ally in former state prosecutor Gerrie Nel, who secured a murder conviction against disgraced Olympic star Oscar Pistorius after he shot dead his girlfriend, model Reeva Steenkamp, on Valentine's Day 2013. Now working for the mainly Afrikaner lobby group AfriForum, Mr Nel says he has taken up Ms Engels' case for free and is planning to challenge the government's decision to give Mrs Mugabe diplomatic immunity in court. "If the review application is successful (and there are
summary: The mother of 20-year-old Gabriella Engels, the South African model who has accused Grace Mugabe of assaulting her, says she is disappointed and angry with President Jacob Zuma's government for giving the Zimbabwean first lady diplomatic immunity.