Judge's clerk breaks down while recounting alleged harassment by Mbenenge
Cape Town - The Judge's clerk who claimed that Eastern Cape High Court Judge President Selby Mbenenge had sexually harassed her, broke down in tears as she testified how Judge Mbenenge called her to his chambers and allegedly “fiddled” with the zip of his pants while displaying a "bulge" in his pants.
Andiswa Mengo was on the witness stand for the sixth day before the Judicial Conduct Tribunal that is investigating the complaints laid by her.
She became emotional while she testified about pornographic pictures she claimed Judge Mbenenge had sent her. She broke into tears when she testified about the day at work when he called her to his chambers.
She said she was walking past his chambers when he, in a soft voice, called her. He was standing at the door of his office, and his secretary was absent. “He asked me, ‘Do you see how much of an effect you have on me?’”
According to Mengo, the Judge President pointed to his pants, where she could see a bulge while he was fiddling with his zip. Asked by evidence leader Salome Scheepers what she meant by a “bulge,” Mengo explained that she had no other way than to describe it as “being horny”.
“He then asked me whether I wanted to suck it,” a visibly upset Mengo told Scheepers. She left his chambers and contacted several of the female judges in the division where she worked to request a round table discussion with them, as well as with the Judge President present.
This, she said, never happened, as she was told that they spoke to Judge Mbenenge about her allegations and he responded that “it was all lies”.
Mengo testified that she did not sleep that night and she took screenshots of his messages to her and the picture he had sent her of his private part.
She then placed these on her WhatsApp status. Asked by Scheepers why she did this, Mengo responded: “No one believed me. It was my way to protect myself.”
Mengo said in response to her post, she received a lot of calls from her colleagues and from lawyers. One of the female judges who she approached for a round table discussion then phoned her and asked her whether she would meet with Judge Mbenenge to speak to him about the issue.
The female judge told her that Judge Mbenenge did not want to partake in a round table discussion, as “too many people were to be present”.
According to Mengo, the female judge told her: “Daddy (in referring to the Judge President) wanted to know how she (Mengo) can be assisted. “She said he wanted to know what he could do for me. What do I want?”
Mengo said she responded that she wanted nothing. While she was having this telephonic conversation with the female judge, she saw a call on her phone from the Judge President. “I then blocked him,” she said.
In referring to some of the WhatsApp exchanges between her and the Judge President, Mengo referred to a picture of a private part which she said he had sent her. She replied to him, “you are sh..ting me.”
According to her, he in turn said he will respond “As soon as I'm done urinating.” Mengo said she understood this message to mean that he will respond as soon as he has ejaculated. She said she did not respond to this.
According to her, she was so fed up with his messages and pictures that she told him at a stage: “I am not like others. I respect myself, so can you please respect me. You are an elder.”
She eventually took her complaints against the Judge President to the Judicial Services Commission.