The complainant in the sexual harassment case against Eastern Cape judge president Selby Mbenenge did not report his inappropriateness because she was scared that no one would believe her.
On Monday, Andiswa Mengo told the Judicial Conduct Tribunal that Mbenenge called her to his chambers and asked her if she wanted to give him oral sex.
After a moment of being overwhelmed by emotions, Mengo told the evidence leader advocate Salome Scheepers that she did not report the matter immediately because she was scared that people were not going to believe her.
“After he asked me if I wanted to suck his penis, I walked out of his chambers and went to the office that was allocated for me in Mthatha. When I got there, I gathered my belongings and left,” she said.
Mengo further said she informed judge Makaula and expressed her fear, as she did not know how she would have escaped had Mbenenge grabbed her.
Attempt to resolve matter internally fails
Scheepers asked if they did not try to resolve the matter internally before she laid a formal complaint at the office of the chief justice.
“We tried, but those attempts failed,” she said.
“I requested a round table of judges, including judge Dawood, Majiki, Beshe and the defendant, however, I was later told that the defendant said I was lying,” she responded.
“Why did you call that roundtable?” asked Scheepers.
Mengo responded: “I wanted to make him know that I did not like what he did, with the inappropriate messages that he had been saying and not listening to my no. I also wanted the judges to intervene,” said Mengo.
Additionally, Menge said after she was informed that Mbenenge had said she was lying, she posted screenshots of their chats on her status, including a picture of his private part.
“I did not sleep that night, gathering the screenshots. After that, I posted all those pictures and captioned them ‘the bus must idle’. I did not remove his name and profile picture, so most of my colleagues, including lawyers, called me, asking me about what was happening.”
Elevating the matter, Mengo went to lodge a complaint at the Midrand offices of the chief justice. She said that when she got there, she was informed that she was not the first person to come from the Eastern Cape with a complaint of a similar nature about Mbenenge.
The hearing will continue on Tuesday.
