Sikhakhane continues to probe Mengo about WhatsApp conversations she had with Mbenenge

JOHANNESBURG - Counsel for Eastern Cape Judge President Selby Mbenenge has continued pressing High Court secretary Andiswa Mengo for answers before the Judicial Conduct Tribunal sitting in Johannesburg. 

Advocate Muzi Sikhakhane has probed Mengo on the conversations she had with Mbenenge on social media platform, Whatsapp.

The tribunal is investigating allegations of sexual harassment against the senior judge after Mengo accused him of making unwanted sexual advances towards her between 2021 and 2022.

A conversation between Mbenenge and High Court Secretary Mengo in October 2021 was thrust into the spotlight before the tribunal.

In it, the pair discusses the Coko matter in which consent was withdrawn and the perpetrator was later charged and convicted of rape.

But it was Mengo’s stance on the matter that the respondent’s counsel zoomed into.

Three years ago, Mbenenge asked Mengo what she made of the case.

Interpreter, Lungi Ngaphi read her response before the tribunal.

“It teaches that the suspicion is if the complainant had known then that by the time she says yes from the first instance, there will be no boundaries for next. One thing led to another.”

Mbenenge then responded explaining that he wondered what led to the criminal complaint in the case.

Mengo responded by saying it was jealousy - a comment that Sikhakhane probed: “Is it your view that it’s a plausible reason for anyone to report sexual abuse?”

Mengo’s response was no.

Sikhakhane’s contention, among others, is that Mengo did not include this exchange in her original complaint.

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