Athol Trollip

Background

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.

Career in politics

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.

In 2015, Trollip returned to national prominence within the DA. On 13 April he was announced as the DA candidate for Mayor of Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality in the 2016 Local Government Elections, and was also elected as the Federal Chairperson of the DA at the party's Federal Congress in May.

In 2016, Trollip was referred to the South African Human Rights Commission (HRC) for alleged human rights abuses and unfair labour practices at the family farm near in the Eastern Cape, allegations that he strenuously denied. The HRC later abandoned the case, citing the difficulty of investigating events alleged to have happened between the 1970s and 2000s, and that the incidents happened before the current, constitutional dispensation and involved "issues of pre-jurisdiction".

In the municipal elections held on 3 August 2016, the DA won a plurality of seats in the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality, but not a majority of seats. With the help of the smaller parties Trollip was elected as mayor of that municipality.