Emojis sent by EC top judge Mbenenge interpreted to mean he lusted after high court secretary Mengo

JOHANNESBURG - The meaning of the emojis sent by Eastern Cape Judge President Selby Mbenenge have been interpreted to mean that he lusted for high court secretary, Andiswa Mengo.

Forensic and legal linguist, Dr Zakeera Docrat, is making sense of the emojis exchanged between the junior staffer and the Eastern Cape's top judge during 2021 and 2022.

She is the second expert to be called as a witness in the Judicial Conduct Tribunal's probe of the sexual harassment allegations levelled against the judge in Sandton, Johannesburg.

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It was on 8 June 2021 when Mbenenge sent Mengo messages requesting her photos.

Mengo responded, saying she had lost most of them but indicated that she would try to take more, but Mbenenge persisted asking for the few which were in her possession to which Mengo responded, "will do".

After this, the judge president sent a series of emojis which Dr Docrat testified had the following meaning.

"The pervy eyes emoji, the next emoji is not the tongue out emjoi, chair, it’s the licking of the lips emoji. The licking of the lips emoji can be used as a sign to say something is delicious as we would use it for the function in food. In this instance, preceded by the pervy eyes emoji, it would mean attractiveness, desire, want."

Docrat highlighted the importance of the context, saying they would have a different meaning if they were sent individually.