{"id":27824,"date":"2025-01-24T22:54:30","date_gmt":"2025-01-24T20:54:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.yfm.co.za\/devworld\/?p=27824"},"modified":"2025-01-24T22:54:30","modified_gmt":"2025-01-24T20:54:30","slug":"witness-to-contradict-mengo-in-mbenenges-sexual-harassment-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.yfm.co.za\/devworld\/2025\/01\/24\/witness-to-contradict-mengo-in-mbenenges-sexual-harassment-case\/","title":{"rendered":"Witness to ‘contradict’ Mengo in Mbenenge’s sexual harassment case"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

The Judicial Conduct Tribunal investigating Eastern Cape Judge President, Selby Mbenenge, for alleged sexual harassment has revealed that a key witness will testify in support of the judge’s claim of innocence.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Mbenenge’s conduct has been under scrutiny since high court secretary, Andiswa Mengo, accused him of sexual harassment.<\/p>\n

The allegations were made public during the hearing, which has been sitting in Rosebank, Johannesburg.<\/p>\n

According to Mengo’s testimony, Mbenenge invited her into his chambers at the Umtata High Court and requested that she perform oral sex on him in November 2022.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Mengo described how Mbenenge allegedly made inappropriate remarks about her floral attire and called her into his office without his secretary present.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

She further described how he allegedly exposed himself, saying “do you see the effect you have on me?”\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Mengo claims she ran out of the office after the incident.<\/p>\n

However, Mbenenge’s defence attorney, Muzi Sikhakhane, disputed this account, stating that the secretary, Zintle, was present at her desk the entire day and left 15 minutes after Mengo.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Zintle is expected to testify and potentially discredit Mengo’s story.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Outlining his client’s defence, Sikhakhane acknowledged that while discussions with Mengo became sexual in nature, the judge had not abused his power.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Sikhakhane further claimed that Mengo’s discomfort with the conversation was not clearly communicated.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He\u2019s accused Mengo of sanitising their interactions, implying that she downplayed the nature of their conversations.<\/p>\n

When questioned about one particularly overly familiar encounter, where she wished Mbenenge a happy Father’s Day, the complainant told the court that she was trying to be respectful.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>“Using our clan’s name was to show him respect,” she said during re-examination.<\/p>\n

The tribunal, led by retired Judge Bernard Ngoepe, has been hearing evidence since the 13th of January, in the country’s first major case of sexual harassment to reach the formal complaints process of the Judicial Service Commission.<\/p>\n

It is also a first time a judge is being formally investigated by a tribunal for sexual harassment. If Mbenenge is found guilty, it could lead to his impeachment as an officer of the high court.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The tribunal has adjourned and will resume on May the 5th.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Judicial Conduct Tribunal investigating Eastern Cape Judge President, Selby Mbenenge, for alleged sexual harassment has revealed that a key witness will testify in support of the judge’s claim of innocence.\u00a0 Mbenenge’s conduct has been under scrutiny since high court secretary, Andiswa Mengo, accused him of sexual harassment. The allegations ...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":27825,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27824","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.yfm.co.za\/devworld\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/C2E9D516-1D5D-48D2-9DF1-4C770F3A40A6.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yfm.co.za\/devworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27824","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yfm.co.za\/devworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yfm.co.za\/devworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yfm.co.za\/devworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yfm.co.za\/devworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27824"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.yfm.co.za\/devworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27824\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27832,"href":"https:\/\/www.yfm.co.za\/devworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27824\/revisions\/27832"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yfm.co.za\/devworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27825"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yfm.co.za\/devworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yfm.co.za\/devworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27824"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yfm.co.za\/devworld\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}