Johannesburg - The man who began talking about compensation to Gabriella Engels, 20, the Johannesburg woman allegedly assaulted by Zimbabwe first lady Grace Mugabe last Sunday, says he is an "independent mediator".
Independent Media spoke with him on Saturday and he was hostile to begin with, but later sent an SMS: “When the time is right we will give you an interview. We are a team of independent mediators. Bon and bred eMzansi. Thanks for the call.”
He would not reveal his name.
The caller, whose ID picture changed a couple of time on Whatsapp appears to be the person referred to at an Afriforum press conference on Thursday.
He has been calling Debbie Engels, mother of Gabriella, asking for a meeting to discuss compensation. “He has called us many times. The first call was before the press conference and since then. We are not going to meet him,” she said. She later said she had blocked his calls.
Afriforum CEO Kalie Kriel told the press conference: “There wasn’t an amount offered to them (the Engels family). The indication was: come up with a figure.” But it is not clear whether Afriforum had spoken to this person who was offering to discuss compensation with the Engels family before he made this statement or whether he was using information given to him by the Engels family.
Gerrie Nel, prosecutor for Afriforum, did not answer his mobile on Saturday.
So there is no indication whether the person making the call to the Engels about compensation is real or if these are hoax calls.
The caller told the Engels family on Friday that he would make a deal in which Mugabe would apologise to Gabrielle, would pay medical fees for her injuries and for pain and suffering - but the amount needed discussion - and that there would be a non-disclosure agreement.
As far as can be established, the man is the only person so far to have contacted the Engels family and raised the issue of compensation.
A well-placed placed political source in Harare, who asked not to be identified, said there would be no offer of any compensation by either the government or anyone from the Mugabe family.
Meanwhile, well-placed sources say that Grace Mugabe has been given diplomatic immunity retrospectively by South Africa and that she will return to Zimbabwe with her husband President Robert Mugabe after the SADC summit.
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