South Africa: JSC Tells Ramaphosa to Suspend Judge in Landmark Harassment Case

What the report says

AllAfrica, republishing a Scrolla report from Johannesburg, says South Africa’s Judicial Service Commission has recommended that President Cyril Ramaphosa suspend Eastern Cape Judge President Selby Mbenenge while Parliament considers whether he should face removal from office. The report, dated 27 July 2026, says the advice follows a complaint of sexual harassment by Andiswa Mengo, a judges’ secretary at the Eastern Cape High Court in Makhanda.

According to the report, the complaint related to interactions between Mengo and Mbenenge from June 2021 to November 2022. A Judicial Conduct Tribunal had earlier found him responsible only for a lesser form of misconduct, viewing WhatsApp exchanges between the two as consensual and concluding that no power imbalance had been established. Mengo’s lawyers, the Women’s Legal Centre, opposed that conclusion.

Scrolla reports that the JSC later reversed the tribunal’s position in March, finding Mbenenge guilty of gross misconduct and sexual harassment. Judges Matter, a legal advocacy group, described the step as highly significant because it involved the first tribunal process of its kind over sexual misconduct allegations against a South African judge. Mbenenge is challenging the JSC finding in the Pretoria High Court and is seeking to stop impeachment-related steps while the review is pending.

The recommendation to suspend him was made at a JSC meeting on 7 July, without members designated by the National Assembly and National Council of Provinces, according to the report. Under South Africa’s constitutional process, a judge can be removed only after a National Assembly vote. Mbenenge is currently on special leave.