By Mapaballo Borotho
- Judge President Selby Mbenenge has been placed on a path to impeachment after being found guilty of gross misconduct.
- The Judicial Service Commission overturned earlier findings and cited power imbalances and lack of remorse.
- The case stems from a controversial relationship with a junior staff member involving explicit messages.
Eastern Cape High Court Judge President Selby Mbenenge has been placed on a path to impeachment by the Judicial Service Commission (JSC).
This comes after Mbenenge was found guilty of misconduct for initiating a flirtatious relationship with a junior staff member, Andiswa Mengo, but cleared of sexual harassment claims.
Mengo alleged that the senior judge sent her sexually explicit WhatsApp messages between 2021 and 2022. In some of the messages, Mbenenge reportedly asked Mengo for naked pictures and whether they could be intimate.
These allegations were not denied by Mbenenge, who maintained that the relationship was consensual. He, however, denied sending her a picture of his penis or asking her for oral sex in his Mthatha chambers.
The JSC has now placed Mbenenge on a path to potential removal after overturning its tribunal’s findings and concluding that he is guilty of gross misconduct.
In a decision last Thursday with far-reaching implications, the JSC rejected the tribunal’s earlier finding that Mbenenge was not guilty of sexual harassment. It instead found that his conduct, when assessed in context, meets the threshold for impeachment under Section 177 of the Constitution.
The JSC also found that Mbenenge showed a lack of remorse and that power dynamics played a role in the matter.
“If this was a relationship between two consenting adults, Mbenenge should have declared the relationship and redeployed Mengo to a different court so that it is not seen that there were favours taking place in the workplace,” said legal expert Mpumelelo Zikalala.
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