Mbenenge misconduct hearing postponed until May
The Judicial Conduct Tribunal hearing into sexual harassment claims against Eastern Cape Judge President Selby Mbenenge has been postponed until May this year.
Friday’s proceedings marked the conclusion of the cross-examination of the complainant in the matter, High Court Secretary Andiswa Mengo.
Mengo has detailed the explicit texts and images she allegedly received from Mbenenge between 2021 and 2022.
Mbenenge has maintained that the interaction between himself and his accuser was consensual.
His lawyer, Advocate Muzi Sikhakhane, got Mengo to concede that she omitted her responses in the screenshot images she submitted as evidence to the tribunal.
Sikhakhane also placed focus on discrepancies in her statements.
READ MORE: Mbenenge sexual misconduct:'Omissions seek to mislead panel'
In explaining way some of the evidence could not be found in her phone, Mengo said two years prior to the start of the misconduct hearing, she submitted her phone to officers investigating a case of intimidation after she received a call threatening to drop the case against Mbenenge.
“I didn’t delete anything, however in 2023 when I got threatened my phone was handed in to try to search for the call that came through that threatened me to withdraw this case. That was in January 2023, and it came back to me in March of the same year. When it came back, some things were missing. It has been with me since then,” she concluded.
Mengo’s phone was handed over to the evidence leader in the lead-up to the start of the hearings two weeks ago.
The tribunal heard that Mbenenge would dispute Mengo’s version of events.
Retired Judge Bernard Ngoepe adjourned Friday’s proceedings and postponed the matter until 5 to 16 May 2025.
ALSO READ:
