The grandson of the late Nelson Mandela appeared in court earlier this week after he was charged with rape.
South Africa’s The Star noted that Mbuso Mandela, 24, made a brief court appearance on Monday on charges for the alleged rape of a 15-year-old girl.
The Daily Sun reported that a family spokesman said the alleged incident took place on Aug. 7 inside the bathroom of a restaurant in the Johannesburg suburb of Greenside where the accuser went with friends.
“Apparently she went to the toilet and he grabbed her and raped her inside one of the toilets,” the spokesman said.
He added that Winnie Madikizela-Mandela sent a bodyguard, posing as police officer, to the girl’s home. However, Gauteng police spokeswoman Brigadier Mashadi Selepe said that she had no knowledge of that.
“That was never brought to our attention nor reported,” she said.
Mbuso is still currently in custody. He has a bail hearing scheduled for Friday.
His grandfather was an anti-apartheid activist who spent 27 years in prison for treason before becoming South Africa’s first black president in 1994. He died in December of 2013. Mbuso is one of his 17 grandchildren.