Authorities have confirmed that Mrs Mugabe had to hand herself into police custody over the alleged incident but failed to do so adding that her whereabouts were unknown.

Ms Engels laid charges of assault against a Mrs Mugabe late on Monday, South African police said in a statement “The investigation into this case had reached an advanced stage.”

In an interview with the South African media, Ms Engels alleged that Mrs Mugabe flew into a rage while her sons fled the hotel room in Sandton, an affluent district of Johannesburg.

“She flipped and kept beating me with the plug. Her ten bodyguards just stood there watching, no one did anything, no one tried to help me” she disclosed to News24 a website.