Judge Mbenenge inquiry: Evidence leader accused of “malicious” cross-examination

Eastern Cape Judge President Selby Mbenenge objected to evidence leader advocate Salome Scheepers’ cross-examination on Thursday at the Judicial Conduct Tribunal. Photo: Office of the Chief Justice / S Lioners

• The Judicial Conduct Tribunal probing allegations that Eastern Cape Judge President Selby Mbenenge sexually harassed court secretary Andiswa Mengo has adjourned.
• On Thursday, Mbenenge called the sexual harassment allegations put to him in cross-examination “malicious persistence”.
• Mbenenge denies asking Mengo for oral sex in his chambers, and provided vehicle tracking records to dispute her version of events.

Eastern Cape Judge President Selby Mbenenge has described his cross-examination before the Judicial Conduct Tribunal as “malicious”.

The tribunal is probing allegations that Mbenenge sexually harassed court secretary Andiswa Mengo.

Mengo alleges that Mbenenge sent her a picture of his penis and asked her for oral sex in his Mthatha chambers. Mengo claims he called her into his chambers, pointed to a bulge in his trousers, said “look what you do to me”, and began unzipping his pants. She says she turned and ran out of the office.

“The version of the complainant [Mengo] is false. It is lies,” Mbenenge said on Thursday while being cross-examined by evidence leader Salome Scheepers.

He has admitted that he pursued Mengo in the hope of having a romantic or sexual relationship with her, but has said that he believed that they were both “consenting adults” who had agreed to delete the WhatsApp conversations between them as they went along.

He said she had been leading him on and had never explicitly said no.

Evidence leader advocate Salome Scheepers suggested that it was “probable” that he had sent her the penis picture.

“Give me the date and time,” Mbenenge responded.

Scheepers said she could not, pointing to the fact that he had deleted all the messages on his phone.

She also said that Mengo had testified that when she handed her phone to the police, after receiving a death threat, it had been returned to her with some of the messages and pictures missing.

Advocate Muzi Sikhakhane, for Mbenenge, said this line of questioning was unfair, and that Scheepers was attempting to “reconstruct” the case.

Mbenenge then, for the first time, described this as being “malicious” – a word he would go on to repeat several times during cross-examination.

He also said much of what Scheepers was putting to him was a matter for argument.

Mengo had previously testified that she had posted to her WhatsApp status another sexually explicit picture sent to her by Mbenenge as a “cry for help”.

She had captioned it, saying she was being sent this “inappropriate content” from someone’s husband, with adult children, who was a leader.

But Mbenenge said on Thursday that this too was a lie because he had not sent her the picture.

Unzipping

Regarding the alleged “unzipping” incident in his Mthatha chambers on either 14 or 15 November 2022, Mbenenge claimed that this had been fabricated to embellish Mengo’s complaint.

He provided a detailed account of his movements on those days, backed up by tracking records of his vehicle. He also pointed to the fact that CCTV footage of the passageway outside his chambers did not show Mengo entering or leaving his chambers.

But Scheepers noted that the tribunal did not have footage of the entire day, and there were many times when his secretary was not in her office.

Mbenenge responded: “It’s demonstrably clear that it did not happen.”

“This persistence is malicious. I am not going to change my version to suit how you feel and the probabilities you are trying to suggest.”

“Gutted”

Scheepers then turned to a proposed “round table meeting” between Mengo and Mbenenge to discuss the issue, prior to Mengo laying a complaint with the Judicial Service Commission. She asked why he had refused to attend.

“I could never in my sound and sober senses attend a meeting where I was going to be confronted with pictures I never sent her. It was a stratagem. She was not genuine.”

He said he was “gutted” after she posted their chats on her WhatsApp status.

He attempted to call Mengo, but she had blocked him. He had reached out to people she knew to ask her to desist.

Referring to Mengo’s evidence that Mbenenge had made her feel “dirty”, he repeated that it was “all lies” and that his advances had not been unwelcome.

Scheepers then asked him: “So, if you have an interest in another secretary, would you continue to behave the way you did with Ms Mengo?”

Tribunal chair Judge Bernard Ngoepe interjected: “You don’t have to answer that question.”

The Tribunal, which has been hearing evidence on and off since January this year, has adjourned.

Dates will be set for parties to submit written arguments and the panel may also hear oral arguments before it begins its deliberations.

Should Mbenenge be found guilty of gross misconduct, and the Judicial Services Commission ratifies the verdict, he could face impeachment.

Support independent journalism
Donate using Payfast