Judge President faces JCC probe

Eastern Cape Judge President Selby Mbenenge is facing an investigation by the Judicial Conduct Committee (JCC) after claims of sexual harassment levelled against him by a judge’s clerk based in the Eastern Cape High Court (Makhanda). Mbenenge on Thursday issued a ‘desist’ demand through an East London firm of attorneys against the Sunday Times after he was approached for his side of the story. His attorney, Simphiwe Mbabane, said ‘the allegations that you want to publish are of a very serious and very scandalous nature; they are untrue and cannot be reversed’. He said the effect of publication would ‘cause irreparable harm to our client’s good name, reputation, and dignity’ and ‘we demand that you desist from disseminating or publishing any defamatory article against our client’. The Office of the Chief Justice (OCJ) did not respond to a request for confirmation of the complaint against Mbenenge, with spokesperson Lusanda Ntuli saying she was waiting for her bosses to approve a response. The complaint was made in December. In the letter of demand, Mbabane wrote: ‘The matter is still under investigation by the JCC’, the JSC subcommittee which ordinarily deals with complaints against judges. Mbabane wrote that, given Mbenenge’s position as head of the judiciary in the province, the preservation of his ‘good name is of utmost importance, not only to our client but also to the integrity of the judiciary as a whole’.