D-day for Judge President Selby Mbenenge, who faces the inquisition of a lifetime
July 7 at 9.30am, Eastern Cape Judge President Selby Mbenenge will finally testify at the mammoth Judicial Conduct Tribunal investigating allegations against him of sexual harassment.
The complaint, lodged with the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) by court secretary Andiswa Mengo in January 2023, has hovered over the judge president like a sword of Damocles.
Mbenenge took special leave (he was not suspended as is customary) as a result of the controversy.
The judge president, according to Judges Matter, 'is highly regarded as a senior lawyer' and credited with transforming the division, unifying the disparate seats. He also attracted some of 'the finest legal minds to serve as judges of that court'.
This case, as tribunal evidence leader, advocate Salomé Scheepers highlighted at the start, is historic. It is also the first major case of sexual harassment to reach the formal complaints process of the Judicial Service Commission.
Judges Matter noted that 'the gravity of these proceedings [is] increased by Mbenenge's status in the judiciary: he is the second-most senior judge president in the country and is the sixth-most senior judge in judicial leadership.
'If found guilty, he might just be the third judge to face judicial impeachment in the history of South Africa'.
Last week, several witnesses testified in favour of Mbenenge, including court secretaries and a Unicode expert on the technical architecture of emojis.
These pollarded (basic) childlike digital icons became a centrepiece of the inquiry, with several 'experts' testifying on the multiple meanings that could be attached to an eggplant or a blushing peach.
The central issue — which has been somewhat obscured by the dust kicked up by Mbenenge's formidable legal team, advocates Muzi Sikhakahne and Griffiths Madonsela — remains power relations in the workplace.
Mbenenge has not denied sending crude, suggestive and explicit WhatsApp messages to Mengo and has insisted their contact was consensual.
No contest
On Friday, in an attempt to counter evidence by renowned Gender-Based Violence and sexual harassment expert, Dr Lisa Vetten, Mbenenge's legal team wheeled in a court stenographer.
Unathu Sokoni, who began working for the courts in Springbok as a stenographer, and who moved to the Makhanda High Court, was called by Madonsela.
But it turned out all Sokoni could offer was a WhatsApp conversation between the accuser, Mengo, and herself and that this was to be admitted as 'expert evidence' – possibly as a woman.
'Lisa Vetten came here in this tribunal and gave evidence to the effect that the complainant was subjugated because of the power positions of her, as a child secretary, and because the judge president was a judge and a father', complained Madonsela.
Sokoni's conversation with Mbenenge's accuser would prove this not to be the case, he argued vehemently.
The tribunal heard earlier in the week from another court secretary, Zintle Nkqayi, who testified for the judge president, that he had often referred to female staff as 'my big girls' and had a penchant for commenting on their appearance.
Ironically, advocate Muzi Sikhahane had earlier accused Vetten of 'infantilising' Mengo by suggesting she did not have the capacity to ward off Mbenenge's persistent approaches.
The tribunal has heard that Mbenenge would not take 'no' for an answer.
Mengo's legal representative, Nasreen Rajab-Budlender, informed the inquiry that Sokoni was not 'an expert in power relations' and added that Mbenenge's legal team had been given ample time to find their own expert.
'They chose not to do so. The evidence Ms Sokoni seeks to give is irrelevant to the matter'.
Ngoepe agreed that 'the panel is correct that Sokoni's evidence should be regarded as inadmissible'.
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