Anyone but the DA, says UDM’s Holomisa
• Holomisa says his party will not support Trollip or anyone else from his party as Nelson Mandela Bay mayor
United Democratic Movement leader Bantu Holomisa says his party will support any suitable candidate to lead the Nelson Mandela Bay metro — as long as they are not from the DA. Nelson Mandela Bay mayor Athol Trollip will face an EFF-sponsored motion of no confidence on Thursday.
United Democratic Movement (UDM) leader Bantu Holomisa says his party will support any suitable candidate to lead the Nelson Mandela Bay metro — as long as the person is not from the DA.
Nelson Mandela Bay mayor Athol Trollip, of the DA, will face an EFF-sponsored motion of no confidence on Thursday.
The EFF, the ANC and the UDM have indicated they will vote to have Trollip removed from office.
Holomisa said that if the DA decided to field another candidate if the motion against Trollip succeeded, the UDM would not support a new DA candidate as trust in Nelson Mandela Bay had broken down between the DA and the UDM.
However, it is not yet clear who an alternative candidate might be.
Holomisa said the Congress of the People and the African Christian Democratic Party still worked within the coalition with the DA in Nelson Mandela Bay.
“If the DA is honest with themselves they should vote for a candidate from any opposition party,” Holomisa said. If the DA, which held the biggest chunk of support in the metro, was serious about service delivery, it would give up the position to ensure services were not interrupted.
The EFF motion of no confidence in Trollip was filed after party leader Julius Malema announced in Parliament that the EFF would remove Trollip from his position as mayor to punish the DA for not voting in support of land expropriation without compensation.
Malema said he wanted to “teach the DA a lesson on how to work with smaller parties”.
Tension between Trollip and deputy mayor Mongameli Bobani of the UDM escalated for almost a year before Bobani was ousted in a motion of no confidence.
Holomisa said the UDM would re-evaluate its relationship with the DA in Nelson Mandela Bay if the party released or tabled the final report in which it was alleged that Bobani was corrupt.
Holomisa was adamant that no such findings existed.
The EFF has indicated that it will support and vote for an ANC candidate if the candidate is one “with integrity”.
The ANC has, however, remained mum on whether it will have its own candidate stand for the position.
ANC Eastern Cape secretary Lulama Ngcukayitobi said after a meeting of the party’s provincial executive meeting in King William’s Town that the party could only pronounce on the name of a candidate after it had discussed the matter with the ANC’s national leadership and other political parties.