Staff Reporter
Eastern Cape Judge President Selby Mbenenge faces suspension after the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) recommended that President Cyril Ramaphosa remove him from judicial duties pending Parliament’s decision on whether he should be impeached.
The JSC said in a statement on Monday that it decided at a meeting on 7 July to advise Ramaphosa to suspend Mbenenge.
“At this meeting, the JSC resolved to advise the President to suspend Judge President Mbenenge from his duties pending the decision of the National Assembly as contemplated in section 177 of the Constitution,” the commission said.
The recommendation follows a sexual harassment complaint lodged by Andiswa Mengo, a secretary at the Eastern Cape High Court, over WhatsApp exchanges with Mbenenge between 2021 and 2022.
Mengo maintained that Mbenenge’s sexually explicit texts were unwanted, while he argued that their exchanges were consensual.
A Judicial Conduct Tribunal ruled in January that Mbenenge was not guilty of sexual harassment or gross misconduct but found that he committed a lesser form of misconduct by initiating and conducting a flirtatious relationship with a junior employee.
The JSC rejected that conclusion in April and found Mbenenge guilty of gross misconduct. It said the tribunal had failed to give sufficient weight to the power imbalance between the Judge President and Mengo and had understated the seriousness of the communications.
READ: JSC finds Mbenenge guilty of gross misconduct
Mbenenge subsequently approached the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria seeking to overturn the tribunal and JSC findings and halt the suspension and impeachment processes while his review application is decided.
A judge can be removed only after a JSC finding and a National Assembly resolution supported by at least two-thirds of MPs.
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