With Trollip likely to go, no one is sure who’ll be PE’s next mayor

It appears to be only a matter of time before DA mayor Athol Trollip is dislodged from the Nelson Mandela Metro (Port Elizabeth), after the municipality’s opposition parties agreed to join forces to get him out.

Trollip’s former deputy, Mongameli Bobani of the United Democratic Movement (UDM), is likely to be installed as the new mayor, with Patriotic Alliance councillor and member of the mayoral committee for roads and transport Marlon Daniels as deputy mayor, several close sources have said.

But some said Daniels may get the post as a reward for leaving the DA-led coalition that is running the city.

Gayton McKenzie (centre) with Marlon Daniels (left) and Leanne Williams (right). Picture: @RaahilSain/Twitter

The opposition parties – the ANC, EFF, UDM, African Independent Congress, Patriotic Alliance (PA) and the United Front Eastern Cape – had an urgent meeting yesterday. They agreed to join forces to remove Trollip from the hot seat as soon as possible.

The Congress of the People and the African Christian Democratic Party, which are both part of the DA-led coalition government, did not attend the meeting.

Bobani confirmed the parties had met and expressed confidence they would succeed in ousting Trollip this time.

Mongameli Bobani.

These parties hold a combined 61 of the metro council’s 120 seats, giving them the majority to form a governing coalition in Nelson Mandela Bay.

The DA previously managed to remain in power, as the PA used its single vote to support Trollip when the EFF put forward a no-confidence motion against him after the DA refused to support the EFF policy of land expropriation without compensation. EFF leader Julius Malema also said they did not want Trollip, objecting to him being a white man.

The PA’s Daniels declined to comment yesterday, except to confirm that PA leader Gayton McKenzie had attended yesterday’s meeting in Port Elizabeth.

It is understood the coalition fell apart after Daniels objected to being part of the metro coalition government when his people were not benefiting from his presence in Trollip’s mayoral committee.

“Marlon and the PA always wanted to leave the coalition because he saw no point in remaining if his position as MMC did not benefit his community. It made no sense for him to be the sole beneficiary. He feels hamstrung there,” a well-placed source said.

Yesterday, Bobani said the opposition parties and the PA and ANC had agreed to work together in the interest of residents.

“We agreed to form a new government because our people in the townships do not get the services they deserve.

“Rubbish is not collected, water and electricity prices are too high under Trollip and streets and roads have potholes,” he said.

Bobani, who has expressed interest in becoming the new mayor, said Trollip’s removal was the priority.

“The next step is to agree on a formidable team to form a government of national unity,” he said.

He said the parties would submit a petition to the council speaker, Jonathan Lawack, today requesting a meeting at which an anti-Trollip no-confidence motion would be raised and voted on.

The ANC and the EFF, the two major parties in the opposition benches, have said they would not field candidates for the mayorship.

Trollip could not be reached for comment.

– ericn@citizen.co.za

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