Malema in PE day before Trollip vote

Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema will be in Port Elizabeth on Wednesday, a day before his party’s motion of no confidence against Nelson Mandela Bay mayor Athol Trollip. Malema will address residents at the Nangoza Jebe Hall in New Brighton at 4pm. “We are speaking to the people of Nelson Mandela about the future of their municipality. We are accountable to our people, not the whiteness,” he tweeted over the weekend. EFF councillor Zilindile Vena, seconded by his colleague Yoliswa Yako, filed a motion of no confidence against Trollip earlier this month. While Malema said they would remove Trollip through the motion to teach the DA a lesson for its stance on land expropriation without compensation, Vena had listed other reasons. He said that Trollip had blatantly disregarded and failed to prioritise poor people.

The EFF, with its six seats, needs the support of every other opposition party to make up the 61-vote majority in the council of 120 seats. The DA, COPE and ACDP have 59 seats, while the ANC has 50, the EFF six, the UDM two and the PA, AIC and United Front one seat each. The council rules state that in the event of a tie the speaker can use his casting vote to sway the decision. Marches are also expected to take place during the week. The “solidarity for the removal of the bully Athol Trollip” has been promoted on social media and will start in front of the Florence Matomela House at 9am on Thursday, with people making their way to the Port Elizabeth City Hall. On Wednesday, a rally also promoted on a Facebook page called “Hands off Mayor Athol Trollip”, is expected to start at noon at Vuyisile Mini Square. “Let’s unite in support of our coalition government,” the post reads.