Mbenenge sent Mengo emojis with sexual undertones on WhatsApp, tribunal hears

JOHANNESBURG - The Judicial Conduct Tribunal has heard that Eastern Cape Judge President Selby Mbenenge sent High Court secretary Andiswa Mengo emojis with sexual undertones during engagements on the social media platform WhatsApp.

Forensic and legal linguist Dr Zakeera Docrat testified that the judge president used graphics with sexual connotations while engaging the junior staffer.

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Docrat gave evidence before the tribunal in Sandton, Johannesburg, during its second day of the 10-day sitting as it continues with its probe into sexual harassment allegations levelled against Eastern Cape’s top judge.

The Judicial Conduct Tribunal has returned to the raft of messages exchanged between Mbenenge and Mengo.

Among the texts before the tribunal is the interaction between the pair in July 2021.

Mengo was booked off sick, and during a conversation with the judge president, she mentioned that she was stressed from her altercation with the court manager in the Eastern Cape division.

While Mbenenge offered words of comfort to her, he also said, “I must come give you a boost,” and inserted an emoji of a syringe, but Docrat told the tribunal that this was not for medical purposes.

“In this instance, taking into account the conversation and the context specifically, it doesn’t represent the standard function of the syringe, which we use within the medical context. It means, here, that it has sexual connotations and it means penis within this context.”

The screenshots of the messages show that Mbenenge allegedly continued with sexual undertones.