By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Judicial Conduct Tribunal ruled that gender violence expert Dr Lisa Vetten can testify at the hearing in which Eastern Cape Judge President Selby Mbenenge is facing allegations that he sexually harassed judge’s secretary Andiswa Mengo.
The Tribunal is investigating Mbenenge’s conduct as it pieces together the events that led to the complaint against the division’s top judge.
Mengo has accused Mbenenge of making unwanted sexual advances towards her between 2021 and 2022.
After a brief debate retired Judge Bernard Ngoepe, who is charing the tribunal decided to allow Vetten to testify, although evidence leader Salome Scheepers admitted she had not received a summary report from the expert for the respondent to prepare.
The tribunal has adjourned until 30 June to give Vetten time to prepare and for the defense to review her evidence.
Mbenenge’s lawyers had on Monday objected to Vetten giving evidence, saying it was irrelevant. But after considering the issue overnight, Judge Ngoepe said he would rather “err on the side of caution”.
“We can hear her evidence and decide at any time if it is irrelevant or not,” he said on Tuesday.
Vetten is expected to delve into the “power dynamics” at the court, the fact that Mbenenge was the boss and Mengo a relative junior employee.
But she has yet to file the required final summary of her expert evidence, which Mbenenge’s legal team would need to decide if they were going to challenge it through their own expert.
On Monday, Mbenenge’s advocate Muzi Sikhakhane indicated that Mbenenge might start giving his evidence on Tuesday or that the defence might call other witnesses in the meantime.
But it was apparent on Tuesday morning that this was no longer on the cards. “It appears they are no longer willing to do that,” said Scheepers.
Last week the tribunal went to great lengths to decipher the deeper meaning of a series of emojis in the build-up of the judge’s alleged grooming of Mengo.
Mbenenge’s significant position of power and alleged abuse of it in the workplace have been the thickest thread in the sordid and shameful tale unfurling at the tribunal.
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Video Courtesy of JRSA.