ZELDA VENTER

THE judge's clerk who claimed she was sexually harassed by Eastern Cape High Court Judge President Selby Mbenenge told the Judicial Conduct Tribunal that she felt like he was sexually grooming her when he tried to solicit pictures from her and sent her explicit pictures during a late-night conversation.

Andiswa Mengo, who laid a complaint of sexual harassment against Mbenenge, became emotional when she testified about pictures which she claimed he had sent her.

Among the pictures was one she claimed was of his private part “with hair the same colour as the hair on his head”. In the picture, it was clear he was standing above the toilet cubicle, she told the tribunal.

She, however, said you could not see the person’s face in the picture, which according to her, was quickly deleted by the judge president.

Mengo also testified that Judge Mbenenge had earlier on asked her for naked pictures “of her top part”. According to her, he suggested that she “go halfway now, then leave the rest for another day”.

She said at the same time that he had sent her a picture of his private part, he also sent her a message reading “BJ equals” followed by a question mark. Asked by evidence leader Salome Scheepers what this meant, Mengo said it referred to “a blow job”.

She said these messages were deleted by the judge president and, according to her, he also reminded her to delete these messages. She replied, “don’t worry about that,” but she told the tribunal she did not delete the messages.

Mengo also testified about disturbing stickers of a pornographic nature that he had sent her. One of the stickers, she said, was in the form of a sticker “which has movement”. “I received this from the president of the Eastern Cape,” she told the tribunal.

Asked how she felt about receiving these images, Mengo said: “I felt like a cheap woman with no dignity.” She also told the tribunal about a message which she said she had received from Judge Mbenenge in which he said, “I thought you would go down.”

She said in her understanding this meant that she would send him a picture of her private part. She said to this, she replied in shock to him, “no”.

Mengo testified that the conversation on June 17, 2021, during which he had sent her the sexual and naked pictures, started off with discussing work-related matters. But this conversation lasted until the early hours of the morning and, according to her, became more and more explicit from his side.

According to her, she had to leave at a stage during the night to attend an urgent application, but when she returned, the conversation continued until after midnight.

She said she told Judge Mbenenge that she was tired and that she was going to bed, but he simply continued sending her WhatsApp messages.

She told him that she had to be up early the next morning, and he told her he too had to get up at 2am to write a judgment. However, the messages simply continued, she said.

His last message to her was shortly before one that morning. Mengo said when she woke up shortly before that morning, she sent him a message to say that she was getting ready for work.

Asked by Scheepers why she sent him a message at that time of the morning, giving the history of the previous night’s conversation and given that she did not want to engage with him, Mengo replied, “because I knew he wanted to conclude it (the conversation)”.

Retired Judge President Bernard Ngoepe, who is leading the tribunal, also questioned her on this aspect. “Why did you find it necessary to respond to him that early in the morning? Why did you not just ignore him?” Judge Ngoepe asked. Mengo replied, “I don’t know.”

The hearing will proceed on Thursday.