The Port Elizabeth High Court has dismissed an application by the DA in Nelson Mandela Bay and its coalition partners‚ Cope and the ACDP‚ for the court to review and set aside the decisions taken at the August 27 council meeting that saw Athol Trollip removed as mayor.

Council speaker Jonathan Lawack and former chief whip Werner Senekal were also removed at the August meeting.

The UDM's Mongameli Bobani‚ who was elected mayor‚ had stated multiple times that the sitting had achieved a quorum (from the required 61 member).

However‚ Trollip stated that at the time the opposition did not have a quorum as former DA councillor Mbulelo Manyati’s membership with the DA had ceased and the city manager had declared the meeting could not proceed without a quorum.

Judge Elna Revelas ruled that Manyati was still a DA member until he resigned.