Athol Trollip has back against the wall, set to be voted out next week
The DA coalition in Port Elizabeth looks likely to be swept aside next week, with a new government voted in.
Democratic Alliance’s Athol Trollip. Gallo images
The Citizen has it on good authority that the Nelson Mandela Bay metro coalition is on the rocks.
A united majority opposition to the mayorship of Athol Trollip is set to call for a new motion of no confidence against him next week, and this time the numbers are unlikely to stack up in his favour.
There has been growing tension between the DA and the Patriotic Alliance (PA) for some time in the wake of the PA agreeing to go into coalition with the DA, Congress of the People (Cope) and African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP).
The DA had been governing in a stalemate coalition government with its 57 seats and one each from Cope, the ACDP and PA.
The opposition has been attempting to win over the support of the PA’s lone councillor, Marlon Daniels, since his switch to supporting Trollip in March.
Now that the PA has switched, Trollip and speaker Jonathan Lawack will probably be voted out and a new mayor and speaker will need to be elected.
Daniels was meant to ascend to the deputy mayorship of the metro, while Trollip also agreed to let him become the member of the mayoral council for roads and transport, a portfolio he filled since April.
Daniels told The Citizen in March that he had turned down the chance to be the city’s mayor from the DA’s opposition in the city.
Malema said in parliament earlier this year that the EFF would fire a “warning shot” at the DA following the latter’s opposition to their National Assembly motion on land expropriation without compensation.
The EFF said they would target Port Elizabeth primarily because there was a white mayor in power there.
In response, the PA’s president, Gayton McKenzie, wrote in an open letter that the principles of nonracialism prevented the PA from joining a motion of no confidence simply on the basis that the mayor had the wrong skin colour.
After losing repeated motions of no confidence against Trollip, the EFF vowed to keep fighting to remove him.
With the support of the PA, the opposition will have 61 seats, comprising of the ANC (50 seats), EFF (6 seats), UDM (2 seats), AIC (1 seat) and United Front Eastern Cape (1 seat).
It’s understood that Daniels is likely to lead the call for another motion of no confidence next week.
