It’s back to opposition bench for DA in PE
THE DA in Nelson Mandela Bay will now return to council in the opposition benches, with the UDM’s Mongameli Bobani remaining the mayor.
This is after the DA and ousted mayor Athol Trollip failed in their court bid to overturn Bobani’s election.
There were scenes of celebration yesterday at the Port Elizabeth High Court after it dismissed an application brought by the DA challenging the outcome of a controversial council meeting which saw the ousting of Trollip.
Defeated Trollip told reporters outside the court that he respected the judge’s finding and that he would remain on as an opposition councillor.
Trollip wasted no time in taking a swipe at former DA councillor Victor Manyati who he labelled a sell-out. He remained adamant that Manyati’s membership was terminated at the council meeting despite the court’s finding that this was, in fact, a contravention of the DA’s own constitution.
“You were part of the journalists that recorded him saying he was leaving the DA. And he took it one step further – he actually crossed the benches, crossed the floor and sat in the benches of the ANC. So you can’t be a DA member if you sit in the ANC benches. But as far as we are concerned we have seen this treachery before in the floor-crossing and since people are desperate to get into power,” said Trollip.
The court battle arose over a technicality around Manyati’s party membership after he publicly stated that he would resign. The new government, the UDM, ANC, United Front and AIC coalition, with the support of the EFF, had insisted at the time that there was a quorum of 61 councillors in the house to continue. But the DA walked out and claimed there was no quorum because Manyati’s membership had ceased with immediate effect based on his public utterances.
The court, however, pointed to “flaws in the political decision-making of the DA” which ultimately led to its defeat. Judge Johann Huisamen, in his judgment, stated that in terms of the DA’s own constitution the party guaranteed the rights of its members to principles of a fair process, and found it was in breach of its own constitution.
The court found the DA’s purported termination of Manyati’s membership was “unlawful” and in conflict with the Patricia de Lille judgment.