The judicial conduct tribunal hearing into the sexual harassment complaint against Eastern Cape judge president Selby Mbenenge has been postponed to June for further witness testimony.
When the tribunal’s proceedings commenced on Tuesday, chairperson of the hearing, retired Gauteng judge president Bernard Ngoepe, said the tribunal decided to allow the evidence of the gender expert to be heard. The gender expected who was to be testifying is Dr Lisa Vetten.
Ngoepe is assisted by retired Gauteng Division High Court judge Cynthia Pretorius and Adv Gift Mashaba SC.
Precautionary measure
“We decided that it is better that we err on the side of caution. It is better that we allow for the evidence to be given. Then if it is irrelevant, we can, at the end of the proceedings, say it is irrelevant. If we exclude the evidence from being given, which might be relevant and material, we would have erred,” said Ngoepe.
After giving his ruling, Ngoepe adjourned the proceedings briefly. The tribunal panel needed to have a meeting with all the legal representatives in the case to discuss the testimony of further witnesses.
Following the adjournment, Ngoepe said there are no witnesses readily available to testify on Tuesday and the rest of the week.
Ngoepe postponed the matter for further witness testimony that will be heard from June 30 until July 11.
Expert Dr Lisa Vetten
Mbenenge, who was expected to testify on Tuesday, did not take the stand.
On Monday, evidence leader Adv. Salome Scheepers said she intends to call gender expert, Dr Lisa Vetten. The latter was to testify before the tribunal. Mengo’s lawyer Adv. Nasreen Rajab-Budlender SC did not oppose the request for Vetten to testify.
Mbenenge’s lawyer Adv. Muzi Sikhakhane SC, opposed the request for Vetten to testify. His reasons were that it is not relevant. He also said the testimony of the expert is only coming now at the late stage of the hearing. Sikhakhane then said Mbenenge was ready to give his testimony from Tuesday. However, he did hasten to add that Mbenenge might want to testify after Vetten, since it has emerged that she might be testifying.
Panel’s recommendation
The tribunal panel has recommended that Vetten’s testimony should happen after her report has been furnished to Mbenenge’s legal team. This is so that the team has enough time to study it. The team can then be able to decide on whether it will call an expert of their own to challenge Vetten’s report.
The tribunal is probing judges’ secretary Andiswa Mengo’s sexual harassment complaint against Mbenenge.
This week’s hearing proceedings, which started on Monday, took place at The Capital Hotel Empire, in Sandton, Johannesburg. The hearing was expected to take place until Friday.
First tribunal hearing of its kind
In Mengo’s complaint, she accuses Mbenenge of making “unwarranted” sexual advances towards her. She said these happened at work and in WhatsApp conversations between June 2021 and November 2022.
It is the first tribunal hearing of sexual harassment allegations against a judge. And if found guilty, this could trigger a process for Mbenenge’s impeachment.
Mbenenge has been on special leave since 2023.
