Accusations of indecent exposure ‘lies' fabricated to shame him, Mbenenge tells tribunal

Daily Maverick

a day ago

Eastern Cape Judge President Selby Mbenenge says he preferred to refer to his advances towards court secretary Andiswa Mengo as 'sensual' and not sexual. He had been interested in pursuing a romantic relationship with her and was testing the waters.
Eastern Cape Judge President Selby Mbenenge tore into tribunal evidence leader, advocate Salomé Scheepers, on Monday, accusing her of bias.
Mbenenge, who is facing charges of sexual harassment, said Scheepers was treating the tribunal as accusatorial and not inquisitorial and should have followed up on evidence proving his innocence.
This particularly applied to 14 November 2022, the date court secretary Andiswa Mengo claims the judge president indecently exposed himself and made lewd suggestions to her in his office.
Mbenenge said that security log books as well as his car tracking device would prove that he could not have been present at the time, yet Scheepers had failed to source this.
CCTV footage of the court corridors of that specific day appeared to have gone 'missing' or had been edited, the tribunal heard previously.
He told the tribunal earlier that being labelled 'barbaric, hateful and sexist' had been hurtful and that he regarded and valued women as highly as men.
He has not denied making 'romantic overtures' towards Mengo and said these had been consensual.
Mengo, on the other hand, had said the Judge President had pestered her with WhatsApp messages and would not take 'no' for an answer.
'Lower class'
Advocate Muzi Sikhakane, Mbenenge's legal representative, dragged in the class card on Monday (having earlier dealt the race and culture cards), suggesting to his client that 'you are a judge and there is a theory that a person who is as old as you should never seek to have a relationship with a person of a lower [sic] class, age, status, category of work'.
To this, Mbenenge replied that this was a notion that was 'hard to fathom, that notion that a judge cannot have affection, I just say affection, he may not be interested in somebody. I believe there's a fallacy when it comes to that.
'I don't believe a JP when it comes to engaging are confined to people of the same class,' he stated.
Mbenenge said he has had to carry the stigma of the accusations for three years.
'I saw myself being treated like somebody who is presumed guilty until proven innocent. That has been the story of my life.'
He told the tribunal that he was not Mengo's boss, as judges had no oversight of secretaries, who fell under the Office of the Chief Justice.
He said he had appointed 'many females in my division. I have encouraged secretaries to study further, I have delivered lectures to aspirant women judges from the ranks of attorneys; these are some of the things I have done.'
Mbenenge objected to the wording of the 'charge sheet' for the tribunal which had suggested 'gross incompetence' on his part, but that there had been no evidence of detail provided to him of what exactly this was.
'Sensuality'
Mbenenge said he preferred to refer to his advances towards Mengo as 'sensual' and not sexual. He had become interested, he said, in pursuing a romantic relationship with Mengo and had been testing the waters.
He said that 'no one under the sun is perfect' and that he was saying this knowing the tribunal was not about whether he was perfect.
'My imperfections became the subject of my thoughts on a daily basis. It resulted in being ostracised by some, people not reaching out to me, me trying to reach out to them. This dark cloud has been over me and I have had to make sure I soldier on.'