{"id":190921,"date":"2026-04-17T03:55:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T03:55:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/190921\/"},"modified":"2026-04-17T03:55:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T03:55:11","slug":"mbenenge-faces-impeachment-risk-after-jsc-finds-sexual-harassment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/190921\/","title":{"rendered":"Mbenenge faces impeachment risk after JSC finds sexual harassment"},"content":{"rendered":"

Eastern Cape judge president Selby Mbenenge<\/a> is likely to face impeachment proceedings after the Judicial Services Council <\/a>(JSC) on Thursday found him guilty of both sexual harassment and gross misconduct.<\/p>\n

The JSC has overturned a judicial conduct tribunal\u2019s finding<\/a> that the judge president was guilty of misconduct only.<\/p>\n

That tribunal controversially cleared Mbenenge of sexual harassment and gross misconduct in relation to a series of inappropriate WhatsApp messages he sent to Makahanda high court secretary Andiswa Mengo.<\/p>\n

She laid a charge of sexual harassment against Mbenenge and produced as evidence hundreds of sexually explicit messages sent over the period of about 11 months.<\/p>\n

In its 169-page ruling, which included numerous annexures, the tribunal found the messages exchanged had been consensual and not unwelcome by Mengo and that there was therefore no sexual harassment or gross misconduct.<\/p>\n

But after considering that report as well as further written submissions by both Mbenenge\u2019s and Mengo\u2019s lawyers, the small JSC \u2014 the name given to the JSC that sits without members of parliament \u2014 rejected its findings. <\/p>\n

In that report, the JSC agreed with the tribunal that, on the admitted facts, Mbenenge was guilty of contravening the judicial code of conduct requiring judges to always act honourably and in a manner befitting judicial office.<\/p>\n

But it went much further than the tribunal in that it considered the \u201cnature, content and context\u201d of the messages and the fact that they were initiated by Mbenenge and sustained over a period of time.<\/p>\n

The nature of the messages \u201cbore directly on the standard of conduct expected of a judge and, more particularly, of a judge president engaging with a junior member of staff\u201d, the small JSC said in its report.<\/p>\n

It said his conduct was \u201cgrossly inappropriate for a person holding the position of judge (let alone a judge president)\u201d especially in relation<\/a> to a person in Mengo\u2019s position.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is conduct incompatible with the standard of honourable behaviour and propriety required of judicial office.\u201d<\/p>\n

The JSC roundly rejected the tribunal\u2019s finding that there had been no sexual harassment, saying it did not apply the appropriate standard.<\/p>\n

It said the tribunal failed to consider whether Mbenenge ought to have known his conduct was unacceptable, bearing in mind the responsibilities entrusted to him by virtue of his office and the position of the complainant.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis resulted in the tribunal focusing almost exclusively on the conduct of the complainant without giving due consideration to the conduct of JP Mbenenge, including whether, in the circumstances, he should have appreciated that the conduct in question was inappropriate and unacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n

It said the tribunal failed to properly consider the impact of the relationship of power between Mbenenge and Mengo.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was relevant to its assessment of whether or not the advances of JP Mbenenge were unwelcome. <\/p>\n

\u201cInstead, it approached the matter on the basis that the parties were consenting adults on an equal footing who had the right to freedom of association, thereby giving insufficient weight to the significance of the disparity in position between them.\u201d<\/p>\n

It said Mbenenge had shown no remorse for his conduct.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe conduct concerned is serious and constitutes an affront to the propriety of judicial office and the values underpinning the constitution. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt undermines core values of the judiciary including integrity, accountability, equality, respect and dignity.\u201d<\/p>\n

The report now puts Mbenenge firmly in parliament\u2019s crosshairs for possible impeachment<\/p>\n

The Judicial Conduct Committee secretariat said in a statement on Thursday afternoon it would submit the small JSC\u2019s findings and report to National Assembly speaker Thokozile Didiza.<\/p>\n

It said that in the meantime, both Mengo and Mbenenge had been invited to make written submissions on whether \u2014 pending any impeachment process \u2014 the JSC should advise President Cyril Ramaphosa to suspend Mbenege.<\/p>\n

Mbenenge has been on voluntary \u201cspecial leave\u201d over the more than two years the process has run its course.<\/p>\n

The Women\u2019s Legal Centre, which is representing Mengo, said it would comment on Friday. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Eastern Cape judge president Selby Mbenenge is likely to face impeachment proceedings after the Judicial Services Council (JSC)…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":190922,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[97639,97633,97636,53449,97637,97638,97634,97632,97635,46184,131],"class_list":{"0":"post-190921","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-south-africa","8":"tag-andiswa-mengo-case","9":"tag-eastern-cape-judge-president","10":"tag-eastern-cape-judge-president-scandal","11":"tag-gross-misconduct","12":"tag-jsc-sexual-harassment-findings","13":"tag-judicial-misconduct-south-africa","14":"tag-judicial-services-council","15":"tag-selby-mbenenge","16":"tag-selby-mbenenge-impeachment","17":"tag-sexual-harassment","18":"tag-south-africa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@africa\/116418033992839629","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190921","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=190921"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190921\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/190922"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=190921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=190921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=190921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}