Athol trollip biography

Umbilical cord

“It's difficult for people who come from the Western Cape to understand how exasperating it is to live in a province like the Eastern Cape. But that makes my determination even stronger to do something in this province, because the people in the Eastern Cape still vote for the ANC.

“It takes a long time to cut one's political umbilical cord. The ANC is a 111-year-old party. For many people, it's a DNA thing that you support the party your forefathers voted for. And because the ANC was born in the Eastern Cape, I think it will be the last place where that will happen." 

Going for a win

Trollip says if you have spent a lifetime in opposition politics, as he has, you lose the idea that you can win. But that view changed when he was given the opportunity to campaign as the DA mayoral candidate in Nelson Mandela Bay,

“We started our campaign 18 months before the election. I kicked it off by going to 60 wards in 60 days and I ended it by going to 60 wards in 30 days. I knocked on most doors in the city at that time," he says with a laugh.

It paid off. The most significant swing in the party's history was that election's 17 percentage point change. The DA went from 40% to 47% while the ANC went from 51% to 41%.

In the next election, in 2021, after Trollip had left the DA at the end of 2019, the DA went from 47% to 37%.

“They don't talk about that. They don't talk about the fact that they have lost eight municipalities in the Western Cape. And 368 councillors across the country. They chased Maimane away for 2019 but nobody said anything about Zille and Steenhuisen's pathetic election in 2021."

His disillusionment with the DA is apparent, but so is his belief that change can come with intense grassroots work in communities — the work he is doing now with ActionSA.

“There is a fascinating thing that happened in the 2021 election," he says. “About 20-million people, 53% of the electorate, d

South African politician

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

He currently serves as the Parliamentary Leader of ActionSA in the National Assembly.

He was previously a member of the Democratic Alliance (DA), serving as the Federal Chairperson of the DA from 2015 to 2019 and the Executive Mayor of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality, serving from 2016 until he was unseated in a vote of no confidence in 2018.

Trollip has served as a 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 the provincial leader of the DA in the Eastern Cape from 2002 until he was replaced on 6 May 2017 by Nqaba Bhanga.

Early life

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.

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 M

Roland Athol Price Trollip (* 12. März1964 in Bedford, Kapprovinz) ist ein ehemaliger südafrikanischerPolitiker (Democratic Alliance). Er war von 2009 bis 2011 Oppositionsführer in der Nationalversammlung und wurde 2016 zum Bürgermeister der MetropolgemeindeNelson Mandela Bay gewählt. Im August 2018 wurde er durch ein Misstrauensvotum gestürzt.

Leben

Trollip wuchs mit zwei Schwestern auf der Farm Mount Prospect in der östlichen Kapprovinz auf. Sein Großvater Athol Trollip senior war Abgeordneter der United Party. Schon als Kind lernte Trollip, isiXhosa zu sprechen. Er besuchte bis zu seinem Matric 1981 das InternatWoodridge College und studierte anschließend eine Zeitlang Agricultural Management an der University of Natal in Pietermaritzburg. Dort betätigte er sich erstmals politisch als Gegner der Apartheid, zog aber schon bald auf die Farm zurück. Er führte die Farm anfangs in sechster Generation und unternahm Reisen nach Australien, Neuseeland und Schottland, um neue landwirtschaftliche Methoden kennenzulernen. Mit seinem Eintritt in die Politik verkaufte er die Farm jedoch.

1980 trat Trollip in die damalige Progressive Federal Party (PFP) ein. 1995 wurde er für die Nachfolgepartei Democratic Party (DP) erstmals Ratsherr im Distrikt Amathole. 1998 stieg er zur Provincial Chairperson der DP in der Provinz Ostkap auf, 1999 zog er in die Provincial Legislature ein. Nach dem Zusammenschluss mit anderen Parteien zur Democratic Alliance (DA) wurde er 2002 deren Vorsitzender in der Provinz Ostkap. 2007 unterlag er Helen Zille bei der Wahl zum Parteivorsitzenden. Nach den Wahlen 2009 zog er in die Nationalversammlung ein, wo er sich gegen Ryan Coetzee bei der Wahl zum Oppositionsführer durchsetzte. Im Oktober 2011 wurde er allerdings von Lindiwe Mazibuko in einer Kampfabstimmung besiegt. 2013 verl