In a dramatic move, the DA's Nelson Mandela Bay mayor Athol Trollip has been removed through a motion of no confidence on Monday. The opposition elected UDM's Mongameli Bobani as Trollip's replacement.
The removal of Trollip came a council meeting where one of DA councillors Mbulelo Manyati decided to abstain which gave the opposition a winning vote. The DA did not waste time and moved to suspend Manyati.
In an attempt to save Anthol Trollip, municipal manager Johann Mettler called for an adjournment but it was too late. The African National Congress, Economic Freedom Fighters, UDM and United Front joined forces to boot Trollip as Mayor.
The DA has expressed unhappiness and has vowed to fight back. The DA’s coalition partners, the African Christian Democratic Party, The Congress of the People and the Patriotic Alliance, failed to gather enough support. This resulted in the removal of the speaker Jonathan Lawack.
“It is just an illegal meeting and we are not going to tolerate decisions of an illegal meeting. We are focused and we will be doing our work tomorrow. The mayor [Trollip] will be in his office and we’ll do everything within our people which is legal to stop them,” said Eastern Cape DA leader Nqaba Bhanga.
Bobani has announced the appointment of a new mayor committee which includes Lungisa heading up the infrastructure and engineering portfolio and the United Front’s Mkhuseli Mtsila taking charge of budgeting and finances.
