News24 reports that Andiswa Mengo, the judges’ secretary who lodged a claim of sexual harassment against Eastern Cape Judge President Selby Mbenenge, has received a chilling handwritten death threat on her desk at the Eastern Cape High Court in Makhanda.

Mengo’s employer, the Office of the Chief Justice, confirmed the threat and said it would temporarily move her to another court precinct while police investigated. On one side of the note, which Mengo found when she and a colleague arrived at work on 30 May, were the words: “Remember, one bullet is waiting for you.” On the other side was an even more direct warning, that if Mengo did not withdraw the case against Mbenenge within one week of Friday, she would not see her child again. The person who made the threats also wrote: “Come season three, you will be destroyed,” - an apparent reference to the fact that a third round of evidence would be presented later this month at the Judicial Conduct Tribunal, which is considering whether Mbenenge sexually harassed Mengo in early 2022. Sources who have knowledge of the Eastern Cape High Court in Makhanda said the security cameras were not working, so it would not be possible to see who entered the office. This was not the first time that Mengo has received a death threat. In 2023, shortly after she submitted the formal complaint which led to the establishment of the tribunal, Mengo was spirited out of the province for her safety after she received an anonymous death threat via cellphone.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Ray Hartle at News24 (subscription / trial registration required)

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