Daniels, Trollip do battle
Patriotic Alliance councillor Marlon Daniels has laid a complaint of crimen injuria against former Nelson Mandela Bay mayor Athol Trollip.
Daniels, who laid the complaint at the Humewood police station, said this was based on a tweet by Trollip that Daniels had threatened to “f*** him up” during the chaotic council meeting on Thursday last week.
Someone then responded to Trollip, saying “you wanted to make him deputy mayor”, to which Trollip replied: “It was part of the coalition agreement, remember? When I discovered what he was up to I fired him, remember?
“We said we’d stop corruption and he was part of the corruption in this city and still is.
“In politics you have to do what you say by having the courage of your convictions.”
On Thursday, Trollip said his response was in reference to Nelson Mandela Bay mayor Mongameli Bobani, who served as a deputy mayor when the DA, COPE, UDM and ACDP were the governing coalition in the Bay.
But Daniels said he could not be mute when allegations were levelled against him.
He said he had not responded when the EFF in 2018 called him an unrepentant thug, which had tarnished his reputation and that of his party.
“The problem is, once one goes mute when such things are levelled against you, people can then interpret it as being truthful,” he said.
Daniels said claims he had been fired were also untrue.
“Everyone knows that the PA walked away from the coalition.
“The narrative that he [Trollip] put out is that he fired me when he found out what am I up to and that I have been corrupt and I still am corrupt.
“I am very disappointed that such allegations are levelled against me.”
Daniels said Trollip should bring forward proof of the allegations so that, if found to be true, his party could also act against him.
Trollip said he would challenge Daniels’ “misguided charges vigorously”.
“Marlon Daniels must stop jumping over council benches and to conclusions.
“Not all that’s said on Twitter is about him,” Trollip said.
He said he had tweeted a range of tweets about all political parties that put the governing coalition in Nelson Mandela Bay into office. “My response to the comment about wanting to make ‘him’ deputy mayor was in fact about Bobani,” Trollip said.
“Daniels was never deputy mayor, even though he was desperate to become [that].
“Bobani was deputy mayor as per our coalition agreement and I did fire him as MMC [of public health] and later had him removed as deputy mayor, for all the reasons well known and being confirmed by his actions now as mayor.”