Mbenenge was found guilty of a lesser offence, which will not lead to his impeachment.
The Judicial Conduct Tribunal has found Eastern Cape Judge President Selby Mbenenge not guilty of gross misconduct, gross incompetence and gross incapacity.
However, he was found guilty of a lesser offence, which will not lead to his impeachment.
“It is the finding that Mbenenge is guilty of a degree of misconduct that does not amount to gross misconduct in that he, at a place of work and during working hours, initiated and subsequently conducted a flirtatious relationship with Mengo through a series of WhatsApp messages exchanged between them.”
The hearing against Mbenenge last year saw witnesses contradicting each other, as the Judicial Conduct Tribunal sought to determine whether Mbenenge sexually harassed the secretary for the judges, Andiswa Mengo.
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The Tribunal, comprising Judge B M Ngoepe, retired Judge-President of the Gauteng Division of the High Court, Tribunal President, and Judge C Pretorius, retired Judge of the Gauteng Division of the High Court and Advocate G Mashaba SC, as a non-judicial member of the Tribunal, commenced in January 2025.
Mengo’s accusations
Mengo lodged a complaint against Mbenenge, accusing him of sexual harassment after he allegedly persistently asked her to send him explicit images and also sent him his own in exchange.
In her testimony, Mengo told the Tribunal she found these requests for pictures “annoying” and felt that he was forcing her to send them.
She accused him of sexually harassing her through messages on WhatsApp, inappropriate comments, gestures regarding her appearance, and another incident that occurred in his chambers in November 2022.
She also claimed he sent her an image of his penis, which was subsequently deleted on the evening of 17 June 2021.
The complainant told the Tribunal it showed “his private part with hair the same colour as his hair on his head”.
He also allegedly sent her pornographic pictures.
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Mengo accused the judge of asking her whether she was aware of the effect she had on him, as he pointed to the front of his pants. She told the Tribunal that there was a bulge in his pants and that he was fiddling with his zip.
“He asked me if I didn’t want to suck it,” she previously told the Tribunal.
This incident is reported to have occurred on 14 November 2022, after he summoned her into his chambers at the Umtata High Court.
Mbenenge’s defence
The judge claimed that the sexual interactions between him and Mengo were consensual.
Mengo, however, told the Tribunal that she reciprocated Mbenenge’s sexual messages to “satisfy him in order for peace at the workplace”.
Mbenenge also denied sending an image of his penis.
“In light of what you are saying, I am saying to you, the persistence in saying I sent K8 [penis] is crystal lies and in the direction of being malicious,” argued Mbenenge.
He argued that he was trying to pursue a romantic relationship, but there was no clear guide on how to do so.
Although he admitted to asking her to remove her jacket, he denied that the request was indecent.
“I wanted her to remove her jacket because I wanted to appreciate her appearance. It was obstructing my view of how she looked,” Mbenenge said, with hand gestures painting her figure.
Mbenenge has survived impeachment after being found guilty of a lesser offence. The matter is now in the hands of the Judicial Service Commission (JSC), which still has to consider the recommendations of the Tribunal and make the final decision.
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