A JSC Judicial Conduct Tribunal has found Eastern Cape Judge President Selby Mbenenge guilty of misconduct.
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- Eastern Cape High Court Judge President Selby Mbenenge was accused of sexual harassment by Andiswa Mengo, who worked as a judges’ secretary in his court.
- A Judicial Service Commission (JSC) Judicial Conduct Tribunal has now found Mbenenge not guilty of impeachable gross misconduct in relation to his conduct towards Mengo.
- The tribunal has, however, found him guilty of a lesser charge of misconduct for initiating and conducting a “flirtatious relationship” with Mengo.
A Judicial Service Commission (JSC) Judicial Conduct Tribunal has found Eastern Cape Judge President Selby Mbenenge guilty of misconduct for initiating and conducting a “flirtatious relationship” with secretary Andiswa Mengo on WhatsApp – but found he was not guilty of impeachable gross misconduct.
News24 understands the tribunal’s report is 169 pages long and is expected to be released on Saturday, after it was sent to the parties in the judiciary’s first sexual harassment complaint investigation on Friday evening.
Mbenenge has never disputed having sexually loaded WhatsApp interactions with Mengo, then a 37-year-old single mother who works in the Eastern Cape division he leads, but insisted he believed they were consensual.
He vehemently denied that he sent her images of his private parts to her.
The tribunal has now found that Mbenenge “is not guilty of gross misconduct, gross incompetence and/or gross incapacity under section 177 of the Constitution”. If that finding is accepted by the JSC, it will mean that Mbenenge won’t face an impeachment vote that could see him stripped of his judicial role, salary and benefits.
Instead, the tribunal finds him “guilty of a degree of misconduct not amounting to gross misconduct in that he contravened Article 5.1 of the Code of Judicial Conduct, read with Note 5 (iii) thereto in that he, at a place of work and during working hours, initiated, and subsequently conducted, a flirtatious relationship with Ms A Mengo through a series of WhatsApp messages exchanged between them”.
Article 5.1 of the Code of Judicial Conduct states that: “A judge must always, and not only in the discharge of official duties, act honourably and in a manner befitting judicial office”.
Note 5 (iii) adds: “A judge does not engage in conduct that is prejudicial to the effective and expeditious administration of the business of the court”.
A full story on the 169-page report has now been published, and can be read below:
READ MORE | Mbenenge not guilty of sexual harassment: JSC Tribunal report says Mengo lied
