The sexual harassment hearing against Eastern Cape Judge President Selby Mbenenge by Andiswa Mengo, the judge’s secretary from Makhanda in the Eastern Cape, has resumed.
On Monday, Dr Lisa Vetten, a specialist in gender violence, commenced with her testimony before the Judicial Conduct Tribunal that is sitting in Sandton.
According to Vetten, led in evidence by advocate Salome Scheepers, she had to review 837 WhatsApp messages that Mbenenge and Mengo exchanged over the course of 47 texting days.
Vetten told the court that a pattern of messaging started to emerge.
She concentrated on the sexual messages between the two, emphasising Mengo’s reluctance to comply with some of Mbenenge’s requests.
“When I looked at the conversation, there was a change in the way the complainant [Mengo] responded. The judge president had many messages that he sent to her, and she would respond,” said Vetten.
“However, towards the last days of their whole conversations, the complainant was responding less and less, and sometimes she wouldn’t answer at all. She initiated conversation about five times, based on these records.”
Request not work-related
She said the request for photographs from Mbenenge to Mengo was not work-related, whereas Mengo spoke mainly about work.
“Even in those times, she is talking about work-related things; some are neutral, like when she wished him a happy Father’s Day; she didn’t ask for photographs.
“He asked her to be intimate with him, so there are those requests, and there is what I describe as ‘sexting’.
“Like asking her about her favourite sex positions. There were questions about her favourite sex position, and that was not relevant to the job at all.”
Vetten said Mengo’s responses were different because she is a subordinate to Mbenenge.
“She was using different strategies to communicate, and she tried to turn the conversation into something else and wouldn’t give a direct answer, deferred and sometimes would use ‘no’.
“She would postpone the moment and use silence. For an employer to ask their employee to take off their clothes on the upper body, how did that have anything to do with the job?” she asked.
Active participant
She further said Mengo was not an active participant in the conversations; she came across as reluctant or not willing.
“Some victims may not be assertive; in different scenarios some women go as far as having sex with men because they want them to be alone.
“In this case, being harassed by someone so senior is a big thing, and it would have weighed on her.
“She referred to her as daddy because of age and position, even though this is not necessarily something that she has been taught; it was an arrangement.”
Vetten said when Mbenenge asked Mengo if she had a man in her life, the answer was no.
“Now that gave him an impression that there was no man who was going to ask Miss Mengo what she was doing on her phone.
“About personal boundaries, there is a day where she told him about the taxi strike, and she said she was working after hours, but Mbenenge still asked about sexual positions, disregarding the fact that she said she was busy at work,” she added.
The hearing started in January after Mengo laid a sexual harassment charge against Mbenenge in 2023.
The hearing continues.
