Mbenenge tribunal: Gender expert breaks down how women respond to sexual advances
Lisa Vetten is providing expert evidence on the power dynamics between Andiswa Mengo and the judge at the judicial tribunal investigating the matter in Johannesburg.
Eastern Cape Judge President Selby Mbenenge (centre) at the Judicial Conduct Tribunal in Sandton, Johannesburg on 5 May 2025. The tribunal is investigating sexual harassment allegations against him. Picture: Katlego Jiyane/EWN
JOHANNESBURG - A gender expert testifying in the sexual harassment probe against Eastern Cape Judge President Selby Mbenenge said the high court secretary who levelled the complaint against him was not a willing participant in her exchanges with the top judge.
Lisa Vetten is providing expert evidence on the power dynamics between Andiswa Mengo and the judge at the judicial tribunal investigating the matter in Johannesburg.
In January, Mengo testified that she was scared of losing her job, which informed the manner she responded to sexual advances by the judge president.
She alleges that the advances, between 2021 and 2022, were unwelcome and even included salacious messages from Mbenenge on the social platform WhatsApp.
Vetten has told the tribunal that Mengo seemed like an unwilling participant in the exchanges.
“She comes across as reluctant and unenthusiastic and always busy with something else, and I mean, I don’t know how much clearer you can be than when you say ‘no’ to someone and that she said a couple of times.
“No. No. That’s not possible. It’s not going to happen.”
Mengo also faced criticism for how she responded to the judge president’s advances.
Asked what she makes of this, Vetten testified the following before the tribunal.
“A lot of what she does, you see, with other women. One of the things that you have to bear in mind is that all women, or anybody actually, who is being harassed, do not respond in the same way. We have to accept that. We have to understand why that doesn’t happen. We also have to accept that some people are more assertive and more confident than others, and so we have to look at the different ways in which people try to express themselves. We have to take our victims as we find them.”