Mbenenge testifying in sexual harassment probe against him
Mbenenge is facing a misconduct investigation, which could lead to his impeachment.
This investigation arises out of a sexual harassment complaint laid against him by judges' secretary, Andiswa Mengo, who works a judges' secretary in the Eastern Cape High Court.
6m ago
Judge President Selby Mbenenge's attempt to lead the testimony of his sexual harassment accuser's former friend - whose statements included claims about Andiswa Mengo's sex life - has been dismissed by the tribunal tasked with deciding his guilt.
Judicial Service Commission (JSC) Judicial Conduct Tribunal chairperson, retired Judge President Bernard Ngoepe, ruled that, after hearing submissions on whether stenographer Unathi Sogoni should give evidence about her two statements, his panel had decided not to allow that testimony.
He told Sogoni, who had been sitting in the witness stand since mid-morning, that she was excused. Mengo has previously testified that, between 2021 and 2022 and after discovering that she was a single mother, Mbenenge bombarded her with requests for revealing pictures of herself and sexually loaded messages - some of which, she said, she had entertained and responded to because he was her boss.
In testimony that has been fiercely denied by Mbenenge, Mengo said he had also sent her images of male genitalia (which she assumed was his) and tried to solicit oral sex from her in a November 2022 interaction in his High Court chambers.
8m ago
Eastern Cape Judge President Selby Mbenenge's advocate Muzi Sikhakhane has argued that an expert's evidence that 'no means no' failed to take into account 'prevailing cultural practices about courting'.
In his cross-examination of leading gender expert Dr Lisa Vetten, Sikhakhane referred to the Xhosa and Zulu words ukuphimisa, ukushela or ukuqasa to stress that 'persistence' and 'pleading' were seen as a crucial part of dating in certain cultures.
Vetten had earlier testified that if someone had rejected a colleague's advances in a workplace environment and they nonetheless persisted in their overtures towards that person, this could be viewed as harassment.
'So actually, you are saying to me, a no is a no in perpetuity really,' Sikhakhane responded. 'Yes, unless somebody comes to you and says, 'I've changed my mind',' said Vetten.
Sikhakhane then told Vetten that the 'expert evidence you've just given doesn't take into account a number of prevailing cultural practices about courting'.
11m ago
Judge President Selby Mbenenge's advocate has suggested a leading gender expert may have been 'completely mistaken' in her analysis of the Eastern Cape judicial head's sexually laden discussions with a secretary – because she is not Xhosa.
'That could certainly be possible,' Dr Lisa Vetten told Mbenenge's counsel, Muzi Sikhakhane, who then pressed her to concede that 'you may actually miss the messaging in the conversation' between the Judge President and secretary Andiswa Mengo.
Vetten responded she had looked at Mengo's testimony 'to see what was happening in the translation and what was being said' and also 'specifically requested the WhatsApps with the translations so that I could get some insight'.
Mengo testified in isiXhosa and intervened when she was unhappy with her interpreter's translation of her words into English. She revealed the Judge President had started messaging her after learning she was a single mother.
On Monday, Vetten testified that her analysis of the WhatsApp messages exchanged between the then-60-year-old Mbenenge and 37-year-old Mengo revealed that the Judge President had asked her for intimate pictures 11 times during their first interaction.
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