Port Elizabeth – The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) has filed a notice of intent to bring a motion of no confidence in Nelson Mandela Bay Mayor Athol Trollip.

The notice, dated March 14, is signed by EFF councillor Zilindile Vena and Yolisa Yako.

It calls for a special council sitting of council on March 29.

In the notice letter, Vena wrote that Trollip and the DA in the city “blatantly disregard and fail to prioritise the poor people”. 

The EFF wrote that Trollip failed to champion the plight of the poor by allowing the DA to attempt to remove informal traders from the streets.

“His (Trollip’s) failure to act in such instances speaks volumes,” the notice reads. 

The EFF went on to accuse Trollip of redirecting money, aimed at tarring roads in various wards, to use towards Ironman 40km stretch roads.

Also read: Why the EFF is dumping DA for ANC

“Under his leadership, people who were desperate for houses and land were inhumanely removed from land they had invaded. Trollip has showed this council on occasion, that he does not believe that women can lead by constantly pushing a narrow backward and patriarchal agenda every chance he gets.”

The EFF alleged that Trollip subscribed to politics of nepotism and Vena added that Trollip demonstrated this when he attempted to appoint a personal friend to the board of the Mandela Bay Development Agency. 

“It is therefore for that reason that we believe he is not fit to hold that powerful office.”

EFF leader Julius Malema last month promised that the party would table a motion of no confidence in Trollip as “punishment” for the DA’s stance on land expropriation without compensation.

Malema however, said the two other DA-governed Gauteng metros, Johannesburg and Tshwane, were safe for now.

In a move that may have sealed his fate with the EFF, Trollip wrote an open letter to Malema, accusing him of using the motion to pay penance to the ANC and gain its favour. 

“This looks much like a peace penance and perhaps the path back into the party fold that you once swore never to leave,” he wrote.

Read it here:  Dear Julius, nobody here wants to ‘cut the throat of my whiteness’

In his support for the ANC to take over the city, Malema had earlier proposed that the ANC nominate former deputy finance minister Mcebisi Jonas for Trollip’s position.

During a media briefing at Luthuli House on Wednesday, ANC secretary general Ace Magashule also told journalists that the ANC leadership would travel to the Eastern Cape to discuss matters related to an appeal against the elected PEC. 

News24 understands that the delegation will also meet with the PEC to discuss Trollip’s successor. 

As it stands, the DA will have 59 votes along with its remaining coalition partners – the ACDP and Cope – come April 6, when the EFF is scheduled to table its motion.

The EFF and its likely partners – the ANC, United Democratic Movement (UDM), African Independent Congress and Patriotic Alliance (PA) – will have 61 votes, which would send Trollip packing.

Last year, Trollip was saved by the EFF when a motion of no confidence in him was tabled by the PA, seconded by ousted deputy mayor and Trollip’s nemesis, Mongameli Bobani of the UDM.

Cracks in the DA-led coalition started to show shortly after the August 2016 elections, with Bobani and Trollip fighting over the administration of the municipality.

Trollip later fired Bobani as his deputy.