Mbenenge slams ‘malicious’ cross-exam as tribunal adjourns

Please note that the following article contains descriptions of sexually explicit exchanges.

On Thursday, the tribunal adjourned until 21 and 22 October, when oral arguments will be heard.

The two-day cross-examination saw a tense legal battle play out between Mbenenge and his accuser, High Court secretary Andiswa Mengo, who alleges the judge sexually harassed her in 2022.

The alleged misconduct includes unsolicited explicit messages and an incident in his Mthatha chambers, where she says he unzipped his pants and made a sexually suggestive remark.

Mbenenge repeatedly rejected Mengo’s version of events, calling her allegations lies designed to “embellish” her complaint.

While he admitted to pursuing a romantic relationship with her and exchanging flirtatious messages, he insisted it was consensual and that they had mutually agreed to delete messages from their WhatsApp chats.

"The version of the complainant is false. It is a lie,” he said during Thursday’s session.

"This persistence is malicious. I am not going to change my version to suit how you feel and the probabilities you are trying to suggest.”

He reserved some of his harshest criticism for the evidence leader, accusing Scheepers of attempting to reconstruct events in a way that painted him in a damaging light.

Advocate Muzi Sikhakhane, appearing for Mbenenge, also challenged the line of questioning, arguing that Scheepers was straying into speculation rather than fact.

Missing messages and mystery images

Much of the week’s testimony focused on the disappearance of key WhatsApp messages and alleged explicit images.

Scheepers raised concerns that Mbenenge's deletion of messages made it difficult to confirm the timing and content of what was shared between him and Mengo.

This included an alleged photo of Mbenenge’s penis, which Mengo says she received but no longer had on her device. Scheepers argued that gaps in the message history and missing evidence made it impossible to fully verify or disprove the allegation.

In response, Mbenenge maintained that he had no record of sending the image and could not respond meaningfully without a timestamp.

Mengo previously told the tribunal that she once posted one of the inappropriate pictures to her WhatsApp status as a cry for help, describing the sender as a married man with adult children and a position of leadership.

Mbenenge denied ever sending her such an image.

Alleged office incident in dispute

A major point of contention remains the alleged incident in Mbenenge’s office on 14 or 15 November 2022, where Mengo claims he pointed to an erection in his trousers and unzipped his pants while asking if she wanted to "suck it”.

Mbenenge denied the incident, stating that tracking data from his vehicle and limited CCTV footage from the court passageway do not support Mengo’s version.

However, Scheepers noted that the tribunal does not have full video footage of that day and that gaps in surveillance, along with his secretary's absence during parts of the afternoon, leave open the possibility that the incident could have taken place.

"It could very well have occurred during one of those unaccounted-for periods,” Scheepers said.

Mbenenge replied: “It did not happen.”

With Mbenenge’s testimony complete and no further witnesses called, the tribunal adjourned.

All parties will return in October for oral argument, where the tribunal will weigh the evidence presented and determine whether Judge President Mbenenge’s conduct amounts to gross misconduct under the Judicial Service Commission Act.

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