"Mr Trollip is still executive mayor," DA Eastern Cape leader Nqaba Bhanga insisted on Monday evening.
He spoke after a council meeting of the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality where Athol Trollip's nemesis from the UDM, Mongameli Bobani, was voted in to replace him.
According to Bhanga, there was no meeting, as Municipal Manager Johann Mettler adjourned the meeting earlier.
On Monday morning, the DA coalition's speaker Johnathan Lawack was removed after a motion of no confidence in him was brought. It succeeded with one vote after DA councillor Victor Manyati abstained.
Shortly after this motion, during a break, the DA presented a letter to Mettler, stating that Manyati had been kicked out of the party.
After obtaining a legal opinion, Mettler declared that Manyati, who was by then sitting among ANC councillors and not his DA colleagues, was not a councillor.