Witness says Mbenenge and Mengo mostly used emojis representing joy, happiness in their conversations

JOHANNESBURG - A new witness before the Judicial Conduct Tribunal (JCT) investigating allegations of sexual harassment against Eastern Cape Judge President Selby Mbenenge, said that the judge and high court secretary, Andiswa Mengo, mostly used emojis that represented happiness and joy in their conversations.

Expert in information communication technology (ICT), Dr Vincent Mello, told the tribunal that the "rolling on the floor, laughter" emoji was used 20 and 28 times by the parties during their conversations on the social media platform, WhatsApp.

Earlier this year, forensic and legal linguist, Dr Zakeera Docrat, was called to testify by evidence leader, Advocate Salome Scheepers and said that the judge president used emojis with explicit sexual connotations in his interactions with the junior staffer.

However, the legal team for the Eastern Cape’s highest judge is continuing its quest to discredit this testimony.

It called on Mello to provide his expertise on emojis and their use before the fact-finding body sitting in Sandton, Johannesburg.

When probed on the use of the laughing emojis, Mello said the parties used them in the same way, with this meaning ascribed to them.

"Crying, funny, ha ha, happy, hey hey, hilarious, joy, laughter, lol, lots of laugh."

Advocate Griffiths Madonsela also quizzed Mello on the use of the emoji with its hands covering its eyes.

Mello said it was used approximately 20 and 24 times and had different meanings attached to it.

"The ascribed meaning would be embarrassed, hide, also you can see in terms of forbidden and OMG shortened to be 'oh my God.'"