Athol Trollip

Roland Athol Price Trollip (born 12 March 1964) is a South African politician and provincial chairman of ActionSA in the Eastern Cape.

[4] 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 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.

[5] 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.

[9] During this time, Trollip was involved with Helen Zille in welcoming King Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo into the DA,[10] despite his conviction on serious criminal charges.

[17] Tensions soon arose between Trollip and his deputy mayor from the UDM, Mongameli Bobani, requiring frequent interventions by the respective party leaderships to mend the relationship.

The vote was postponed, because the city council meeting descended into chaos due to the actions of the opposition parties.

[21] However, the high court upheld Bobani's appointment, stating that Manyati had still been a DA member at the time and as such there was a quorum.

Trollip at the DA's 2010 Federal Congress