NELSON MANDELA BAY, SOUTH AFRICA – MARCH 28: Nelson Mandela Bay Mayor; Athol Trollip, his former deputy Mongameli Bobani and Moki Cekisani during the launch of a clean-up campaign on March 28, 2017 in Nelson Mandela Bay, South Africa. Nelson Mandela Bay deputy mayor Mongameli Bobani, said “Gone are the days where people can just transform any piece of open land into a landfill. Those found breaking the law, strict action would be taken against”. (Photo by Gallo Images / Die Burger / Werner Hills)
NELSON MANDELA BAY, SOUTH AFRICA – MARCH 28: Nelson Mandela Bay Mayor; Athol Trollip, his former deputy Mongameli Bobani and Moki Cekisani during the launch of a clean-up campaign on March 28, 2017 in Nelson Mandela Bay, South Africa. Nelson Mandela Bay deputy mayor Mongameli Bobani, said “Gone are the days where people can just transform any piece of open land into a landfill. Those found breaking the law, strict action would be taken against”. (Photo by Gallo Images / Die Burger / Werner Hills)
Facing his second motion of no confidence in four months, Athol Trollip has come under fire from both main opposition parties in the Nelson Mandela Bay municipality.
Back in November 2017, the ANC lodged a bid to remove the Trollip from the office of mayor. They tried to oust him on the pretence that he was wrong to sack his then-deputy mayor, UDM member Mongameli Bobani.
However, the thinly-veiled attempt to flip the centre of power in the local coalition government fell flat on its arse. Trollip survived the vote, due to the EFF’s decision to oppose the motion. Oh, how times change.
Why does the EFF want Athol Trollip removed?
The red berets are now launching their own no confidence motion against Athol Trollip. After a bitter dispute about land expropriation without compensation, Julius Malema and co went on the verbal offensive against him.
Eyebrows were raised when Malema made it implicitly clear he was “opposed” to Trollip’s whiteness. The ugly war of words – and opposing positions on land redistribution – has seen the relationship between the DA and EFF completely crumble.
How many votes does Trollip need to survive?
Elected representatives in Nelson Mandela Bay will take to local Parliament on Thursday, where they will cast their vote on Trollip’s future. So how can the embattled mayor pull off another survival campaign?
A total of 120 votes will be cast. However, due to any potential absence or abstinence, that number could dwindle. Trollip needs half of the vote or more to survive. At this point, 60 votes in his favour will keep him seated as mayor.
Politics just isn’t all that simple in the Eastern Cape, though. The NMB municipality is made up of very fragile coalition partners, with a total of nine different parties making up local government. This means its hard to predict exactly who will support Trollip:
How many seats does each party have in Nelson Mandela Bay?
- Democratic Alliance: 57
- African National Congress: 50
- Economic Freedom Fighters: 6
- United Democratic Movement: 2
- African Independent Congress: 1
- United Front of the Eastern Cape: 1
- Congress of the People: 1
- African Christian Democratic Party: 1
- Patriotic Alliance: 1
Who will support Athol Trollip?
The Patriotic Alliance have already declared they will back the DA, which would take them to 58 votes in favour of Athol Trollip remaining as mayor.
However, should the ANC decide to take the EFF’s side and vote to remove Trollip, they could also count on UDM support. There’s been a bit of needle between them and the Democratic Alliance ever since the deputy mayor lost his job, at the behest of Athol and his team.
So what does an ANC, EFF and UDM combination take us to? Yep, 58 votes.
The motion will likely be decided by the remaining four votes belonging to the minor parties in government. Trollip would need two votes from these representatives to keep hold of his job once more. However, if three decide to back the motion of no confidence instead, the EFF will have successfully removed the mayor.
