Eastern Cape Judge President Selby Mbenenge. (Nelius Rademan/ Foto24/Gallo Images)
Listening to the hearing of the sexual harassment complaint against Eastern Cape judge president Selby Mbenenge leaves one with the indelible image of a senior member of the judiciary endlessly sexting an office junior while he should have been reading court papers and writing judgments.
The impression is so graphic because his text messages were so graphic. Mbenenge denies that he sent Andiswa Mengo pictures of his penis and a deluge of pornographic images.
But the admitted evidence is replete with text requests for sexual favours that the judge’s own legal counsel qualified as sleazy and puerile.
Mbenenge’s future turns on whether the tribunal finds that Mengo consented to his advances. Advocate Muzi Sikhakhane has argued forcefully that she did and that the infamous photograph that has tarnished his client’s reputation was a fiction.
Mengo has not always been a sympathetic witness and the image may or may not be found, but public perception has little to do with proof and Mbenenge sullied his own standing when he felt entitled to treat a secretary in the division as his toy.
Judges must command the respect of society because the rule of law depends on public confidence in the integrity of the judiciary.
It is a point that has repeatedly been made in recent years as politicians facing criminal charges or protesting adverse court rulings launched corrosive attacks on individual judges and the court as a collective. Yet the assault on the sanctity of the judiciary has also come from within its ranks, John Hlophe having led the charge.
Retired Gauteng judge president Bernard Ngoepe initially wanted to hear testimony on the disputed evidence against Mbenenge in camera for the stated reason that if public, it will damage the image of the judiciary.
We know now that the evidence in dispute is the photographs. With respect to Ngoepe, the transcript of those text messages the respondent cannot disown already reads as a discredit to the institution.
It shows Mbenenge speculating in a troublingly prurient manner that Mengo’s teenage daughter might see their messages. In another message he deplored gender-based violence but saw fit to illustrate the subject with an image of a woman wearing only a t-shirt.
He should acknowledge that his behaviour was unbecoming and resign, regardless of the conclusion the judicial conduct tribunal reaches. It is the biggest service he can render the judiciary and the only route to personal redemption.