Victor Manyati remains a DA councillor, high court rules

Victor Manyati - one of the three DA politicians instrumental in the removal of Athol Trollip as Nelson Mandela Bay mayor - remains a councillor for the party.

This, after Port Elizabeth High Court Judge Elna Revelas made a ruling on Tuesday.

The DA took the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality to court along with Manyati, Trevor Louw and Neville Higgins to ask the court to remove them from the party.

The party wanted the court to declare that three vacancies were open and compel the municipality to advertise this as such.

Legal counsel for the three claimed that the termination of their membership was not valid due to internal procedures not being followed.

But in her judgment, Revelas said that Louw and Higgins had been subsequently removed as councillors after acting city manager Peter Neilson declared vacancies for their positions and wrote to the IEC requesting by-elections.

But in the case of Manyati, Revelas said there was no merit in the DA’s application to have him removed.

“I conclude that there is no merit in the present application in so far as [Manyati] is concerned,” she said.