ACDP’s Meshoe slams DA ‘arrogance’ after Trollip removed by ‘racists’

The leader of the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP), Reverend Kenneth Meshoe, took to Twitter to share his belief that Athol Trollip was “doing a good job as mayor” in Nelson Mandela Bay and was removed because he is white.

“To hate a person and remove a person from his position because of his skin colour is wrong,” the reverend continued, adding in another tweet that black people “must not only condemn racism by white people but also racism that is perpetrated by black people.

However, a later outburst by the ACDP leader shows strain in the alliance between the DA and its coalition partners in the municipality, who have now lost power to an alliance between the ANC, EFF and UDM, with the UDM’s the Mongameli Bobani appointed as the new mayor.

Meshoe reacted to a tweet in which Maimane acknowledged the tireless work Athol Trollip and the DA had done in the metro by taking the DA leader to task, noting it was not just the DA but the ACDP, Cope and UDM that made up the original coalition government in Nelson Mandela Bay.

In another tweet, Meshoe says, “The DA leader showed their arrogance when their leader Mmusi Maimane failed to acknowledge the ACDP and Cope’s immense contribution in the successful running” of the Nelson Mandela Bay council.

He questioned whether Trollip would have been able to rise to power without his party and added, “Never forget to say thank you to those who helped you”.

On Monday evening, Trollip was ousted as mayor of the metro, after fellow DA member Jonathan Lawack had been removed as the speaker that morning.

The opposition formed a quorum of 61 to have the ANC’s Buyelwa Mafaya elected the new speaker and the UDM’s Mongameli Bobani the mayor.

The Citizen understands that the former opposition was only able to reach a quorum by including the vote of DA councillor Victor Manyati, whose membership of the DA and his council seat are still in dispute.

The DA maintains that Trollip’s removal was unlawful as Nelson Mandela Bay city manager Johann Mettler adjourned the council meeting because the council was not quorate, in his view, and could not elect a new speaker.

The ANC, UDM and EFF coalition, for their part, claim that Mettler adjourned the meeting unlawfully.

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