Andiswa Mengo, the judges secretary for the Makhanda High Court, sobbed as she described a photo of a private area that she claimed Judge President Selby Mbenenge had sent her.
Mengo disclosed the information on Wednesday at the Judicial Conduct Tribunal.
Mengo’s testimony kicked off the tribunal’s proceedings on Monday, which were presided over by retired judge president Bernard Ngoepe.
Advocate Salome Scheepers went through the two’s WhatsApp conversations and asked why some of the messages had been removed.
Scheepers enquired as to whether Mengo could still recall the subject of those messages.
“I do not recall all of them,” Mengo responded, as she got emotional and asked to have a moment to regain her composure.
She went on to tell the tribunal that she recalled seeing Mbenenge’s hairy private area in one of the messages.
“The third one from the top, timed 21.32, was his private part with hair exactly as the hair on his head,” she said.
“It was a picture, and it showed that he was standing above the toilet cubical.”
Mengo said there was no face on the picture from Mbenenge.
Mengo asked to delete the messages
She continued by saying that Mbenenge texted her “BJ=?”. Scheepers asked if Mengo understood what that meant.
“Yes, I know what it means. It means blow job. I do not remember responding to the two messages. I did not delete anything,” she said.
According to Mengo, Mbenenge sent her a message saying she must not forget to delete the messages. “I responded and told him not to worry about that with a winking emoji.”
When Mbenenge questioned Mengo about how quickly she melts, she replied that it depends on the oven’s temperature, she added.
“I was referring to something I was doing in the house — that you do not cook unless the stove is hot.
“I saw that the conversation was taking a different direction, and I chose to talk about what I was doing in the house.”
Mengo’s testimony continues.
