Athol Trollip
| Athol Trollip | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Mayor of Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality | |
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Assumed office 18 August 2016 |
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| Preceded by | Danny Jordaan |
| Federal Chair of the Democratic Alliance | |
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Assumed office 10 May 2015 |
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| Preceded by | Wilmot James |
| Member of Provincial Legislature in the Eastern Cape | |
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In office 5 June 2013 – 18 August 2016 |
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| Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly of South Africa | |
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In office 2009 – 27 October 2011 |
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| Preceded by | Sandra Botha |
| Succeeded by | Lindiwe Mazibuko |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
12 March 1964 Bedford, Eastern Cape, South Africa |
| Political party | Democratic Alliance |
Athol Trollip (born 12 March 1964) is a South African politician of the Democratic Alliance (DA) and currently is the Mayor of Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality since August 2016.
Trollip has served as member of the National Assembly and as a member of the Provincial Legislature of the Eastern Cape Province. He served as Parliamentary Leader of the opposition between 2009 and 2011. He was provincial leader of the DA in the Eastern Cape from 2002 until he was replaced on 6 May 2017 by Nqaba Bhanga.
Trollip was born in the town of Bedford in the Eastern Cape, attended Woodridge College, and studied Agricultural Management at the University of Natal in Pietermaritzburg. He is a fluent speaker of Afrikaans, English, and Xhosa. He has two children.
Trollip joined the liberal Progressive Federal Party in 1980. His political career began in earnest when he became a municipal councillor for the PFP's successor, the Democratic Party, in 1995. He was elected as provincial chairperson in 1998 and then as the renamed DA's leader in the Eastern Cape in 2002, a position he held for 15 years. Trollip served as a Member of the Eastern Cape Provincial Legislature between 1999 and 2009.
He unsuccessfully ran for party leader against Helen Zille in 2007.
In 2009, Trollip became a Member of Parliament in the National Assembly and after winning a leadership contest against Ryan Coetzee assumed the position of Parliamentary Leader of the DA. On 27 October 2011, Trollip was defeated in his bid for re-election as Parliamentary Leader of the DA by fellow MP Lindiwe Mazibuko. He later left the National Assembly to return to the Eastern Cape Legislature in 2013, and was the DA's premier candidate in the Eastern Cape province for the 2014 general election. During this time, Trollip was involved with Helen Zille in welcoming King Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo into the DA, despite his conviction on serious criminal charges. Dalindyebo was subsequently expelled from the DA when the conviction was upheld on appeal.
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