Mbenenge rejects assertion that peeled banana emoji he sent to Mengo was meant to be his penis

Please note that the following story contains graphic details of a sexual nature.

JOHANNESBURG - Eastern Cape Judge President Selby Mbenenge has rejected the assertion that the peeled banana he sent to high court secretary, Andiswa Mengo was meant to depict a male private part.

The judge president on Tuesday was reading the WhatsApp texts between himself and Mengo before the Judicial Conduct Tribunal probing allegations of misconduct against him.

Mengo accuses the senior judge of making unwanted sexual advances towards her between 2021 and 2022.

But, Mbenenge denies this and has also rubbished the testimony of some expert witnesses.

In May this year, forensic and legal linguist Dr Zakeera Docrat told the tribunal that the emoji of a peeled banana sent by Mbenenge to Mengo represented a circumcised male private part.

When the judge president sent the emoji in June 2021, the pair was exchanging texts with sexual connotations on messaging service, WhatsApp.

But, Mbenenge denied that the banana was meant to signify what was testified by Docrat.

"In other words, I was saying, I was going to give you something nice. I could’ve sent a chocolate. I could’ve sent anything that people, when they meet, would love to share. But clearly, it has got nothing to do with any penis."

Mbenenge claimed ignorance when probed on Docrat’s evidence, saying he would have had to study a degree in emojis to understand the sexual connotation attached to it.

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