Trollip's removal as Nelson Mandela Bay mayor heads to court

The dramatic ousting of the DA's Athol Trollip as Nelson Mandela Bay mayor is expected to take centre stage in the Port Elizabeth High Court on Thursday.

On August 31, three days after Trollip was ousted, the party and its coalition partners COPE, the ACDP and the Patriotic Alliance lodged the court application, asking for an urgent review of the decision.

Trollip was removed through a motion of no confidence and his nemesis from the UDM, former deputy mayor Mongameli Bobani was elected mayor, with no DA councillors nor any of its coalition partners present, bar Victor Manyati.

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The ANC, EFF and UDM banded together to remove Trollip on the day. 

But the party was not happy and it claimed that there was a coup d'état.

Manyati abstained during the vote of no confidence in speaker Jonathan Lawack and was summarily expelled from the DA, sending the council meeting into chaos.

The parties also allege that the election of Buyelwa Mafaya as speaker on the day was unlawful. 

Mafaya was elected speaker and proceeded with the motion of no confidence after opposition councillors waited until Eastern Cape Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs MEC Fikile Xasa sent an official to preside over the meeting.

This was shortly after the City manager Johann Mettler said that the meeting didn't have a quorum and could not continue after he obtained a legal opinion and declared that Manyati was not a councillor, having been sent the information by the DA.

The DA claims that the procedure that was taken to remove Trollip wasn't in accordance with the Municipal Structures Act.