OUGAT EMOJIS IN COURT

OUGAT emojis could land you in big trouble in court.

This after the spotlight fell on their interpretations during the the Judicial Conduct Tribunal hearing into sexual harassment complaints against Eastern Cape Judge President Selby Mbenenge.

Mbenenge stands accused of sexually harrassing Makhanda High Court worker Andiswa Mengo, who alleges in-person advances and sexts. 

Forensic and legal linguist and researcher Dr Zakeera Docrat took the stand on Tuesday. 

Docrat submitted that she had, since 2018, researched how emojis are used and related this to the South African context, which is multicultural and multilingual. 

Interpreting several emojis, Docrat testified that a set of eyes could be interpreted as “pervy eyes”, a hug emoji was interpreted as warmth, while a yellow emoji with a tongue out and closed eyes depicted want or desire, or could be interpreted as “delicious”.

Referring to an acronym message sent to Mengo where Mbenenge wrote “BJ=?”, Docrat interpreted the context as Mbenenge asking for a blowjob.  

Subsequent messages to the request were a response where Mbenenge wrote: “I was going to give you this one”. The message was followed up with an emoji of a single peeled banana. 

In another chat exchange after learning that Mengo had fallen ill, Mbenenge wrote: “I must come give you a boost,” followed by a syringe with liquid in it.

Docrat explained: “The syringe was used in a sexual connotation referring to the penis.”

She further submitted that Mengo tended to use the hysterical laughter emoji as an automated response when she made light of a topic or “laughed it off”.

The Tribunal hearing continues.