(Leon Sadiki/Gallo Images)
Athol Trollip has lost his urgent bid to overturn his ousting as Nelson Mandela Bay mayor in the Eastern Cape high court on Thursday.
Judge Elna Revelas dismissed the Democratic Alliance (DA) and its coalition partners’ urgent application on Thursday morning, having reserved judgment last week.
The United Democratic Movement’s Mongameli Bobani therefore remains mayor of Nelson Mandela Bay.
The court also announced that Mbulelo Manyati, the sole councillor to abstain during the motion of no confidence, was still a DA councillor until he chooses to resign.
The judge ordered the DA and its coalition partners to pay the legal costs of the defendants in two matters.
Trollip was removed by the ANC, EFF and UDM as mayor of Nelson Mandela Bay in August following a motion of no confidence.
Three days after his ousting, Trollip and his coalition partners – Congress of the People, the ACDP and the Patriotic Alliance – lodged an application seeking urgent review.
Advocate Dali Mpofu represented the opposition coalition in the high court, arguing that the DA made a “miscalculated decision” to leave the council meeting before it had concluded its business of the day.
He said walking out of a meeting is a strategy used popularly across political spaces, but those walking out needed to ensure there was no quorum thereafter. — News24