Trollip not in town on day of ‘bribe’ – wife

NELSON Mandela Bay mayor Athol Trollip’s wife told a court yesterday that he could not have bribed a former DA activist when the woman claimed he did, because he was out of town at the time.

She was testifying in the Port Elizabeth Magistrate’s Court in a defamation case against former DA activist Nontuthuzelo Jack, who alleged that Trollip had offered her a bribe to dig up dirt about then DA provincial chairwoman Veliswa Mvenya in the run-up to the 2016 local government elections.

Trollip’s wife, Janine, and DA federal chairman James Selfe both testified that it was not possible for Trollip to have been at the Motherwell police station on March 20 2016 – which Jack claimed was the meeting spot for the alleged bribe – because he had been out of town at the time.

Jack alleged that Trollip had called her twice, once at 7am and again at 9am, to arrange the meeting spot.

But Jack’s cellphone records, submitted as evidence, showed she did not receive any calls that morning from Trollip.

Trollip’s cellphone records also showed that he had not made any calls that morning.

Janine said Trollip could not have been at the meeting spot as they were at a church service in Port Alfred at the time.

A photograph of Trollip at the service was also submitted as evidence.

“It would be absolutely impossible,” she said.

“He was at my side the entire Saturday and Sunday.” The couple was in Port Alfred for a cricket tournament that Janine’s son was playing in.

An article published in the Daily Dispatch on March 25 2016 alleged that Trollip had offered Jack a bribe to dig up dirt on Mvenya. Trollip denied the allegations.

On April 1 2016, Selfe interviewed both Jack and Mvenya.

The outcome of the interviews was included in a report to the DA’s regional offices.

Selfe told the court yesterday: “We took this matter very seriously, more specifically because it involved the mayoral candidate for the municipality.”

Selfe said that after interviewing Jack, he was convinced the allegations were false because he knew where Trollip was on the day of the alleged bribe.

“What was perplexing was that Athol Trollip wasn’t in Port Elizabeth at all [at the time of the alleged meeting]. The allegations had no merit.

“It is highly unlikely for anyone to move so quickly between two places [Port Alfred and Motherwell] as alleged.”

Selfe said that during his investigation, he had interviewed several people who corroborated that Trollip was not involved in an alleged bribe.

Former deputy mayor Mongameli Bobani made a surprise appearance at the court yesterday, where he was seen chatting to Jack.

Asked for comment later, Bobani said the case was interesting to him.

“I want to see how justice is going to play out,” he said.

Speaking after the case was postponed to July 12, Trollip said he was frustrated with the delays in the matter.

“As Selfe said in his testimony, on the balance of probabilities the allegations cannot be true,” he said.

About Bobani’s presence at the court, Trollip said it was “very curious”.