JSC Recommends Ramaphosa Suspend Eastern Cape Judge President Mbenenge Amid Impeachment Process

By Mpho Tumelo Modise | Editor-in-Chief, EZA News

The Judicial Service Commission has formally recommended to President Cyril Ramaphosa that Eastern Cape Judge President Selby Mbenenge be placed on suspension, following the JSC’s earlier finding that Mbenenge was guilty of gross misconduct arising from the sexual harassment of a junior court secretary.

The recommendation comes after Mbenenge has been on what the JSC described as “special leave” since 2023 – a status that distinguished his situation from the standard practice of immediate suspension pending a Judicial Conduct Tribunal ruling. That distinction had already drawn scrutiny; the JSC’s move to now formalise suspension indicates that the body regards the unusual arrangement as no longer tenable given the gravity of the findings against him.

The background to this recommendation is substantial. A Judicial Conduct Tribunal, after hearing evidence that included a detailed record of salacious messages and sexual emojis exchanged between Mbenenge and secretary Andiswa Mengo, ruled in January that he was guilty of a “degree of misconduct” – a formulation the JSC subsequently refused to accept. In April, the JSC rejected the Tribunal’s framing, found Mbenenge guilty of gross misconduct, and recommended impeachment, stating that the Tribunal had failed to properly account for the profound power differential between a judge president and a junior secretary, and that sexual harassment constituted an “affront to the propriety of judicial office and the values underpinning the Constitution.”

Mbenenge has launched High Court proceedings in Pretoria to halt the impeachment process, pending a review of the JSC’s findings, which he describes as “unreasonable, unconstitutional and unlawful.” That review application remains pending, and Mbenenge’s opposition to the suspension recommendation drew directly on it – he argued that formal suspension, while he is already on special leave, would serve only to embarrass him and was inappropriate given his active legal challenge.

The JSC did not accept this argument. Its position is that unless and until its finding of gross misconduct is set aside by a competent court, it remains the operative decision, and that a precautionary suspension is necessary to protect the integrity, dignity, and public standing of the judiciary while the constitutionally prescribed removal process runs its course. The JSC also cited consistency – Eastern Cape High Court Judge Belinda Hartle, facing separate gross misconduct charges, had been suspended despite opting for special leave.

Mengo, the secretary at the centre of the original complaint, submitted that Mbenenge should have been suspended from the moment Tribunal hearings began. Her written submission to the JSC cited the gravity of the findings, the significance of his office, and the personal impact on her.

Parliament’s National Assembly will ultimately decide whether Mbenenge is impeached. That process now proceeds with Mbenenge formally suspended pending its conclusion.