Party calls for meeting over Trollip

THE ANC in the Eastern Cape has called for a meeting with Julius Malema’s EFF over the future of Nelson Mandela Bay’s mayor.

ANC Eastern Cape secretary Lulama Ngcukaitobi said he would lead a delegation of provincial leaders to have formal talks with the EFF on the matter.

They were waiting for a response to a letter confirming when the meeting would happen.

This comes after Malema announced in parliament last week that his party would be tabling a motion of no confidence in Athol Trollip – this because the DA did not vote for the EFF’s motion to expropriate land without compensation.

“We are going to remove the mayor of PE‚ not because he stole money or anything [but] because we want to teach white people that we mean business when we say expropriation of land without compensation‚” he said later.

Ngcukaitobi said the ANC in the Eastern Cape had also agreed that there should be a meeting with all stakeholders in Port Elizabeth to thrash out a way forward that would be best for the city.

“The ANC is a party of coalitions. It has been able to work with the SACP and Cosatu in an alliance,” he said.

“It has worked with the National Party‚ IFP [Inkatha Freedom Party] and at some state the National Freedom Party.”

He said as a result of that history‚ it would not be difficult to work with the EFF as the party was not fundamentally opposed to ANC policies.

EFF spokesman Mbuyiseni Ndlozi had not replied to a request for comment at the time of going to press.