Malema and Ndlozi troll Athol Trollip after losing to Helen Zille

While the return of former DA leader Helen Zille has received mixed reactions, EFF leader Julius Malema and his party national spokesperson, Mbuyiseni Ndlozi, have been having fun trolling former Nelson Mandela Bay mayor Athol Trollip.

This comes after Zille defeated Trollip and MPs Mike Waters and Thomas Walters in a contested election on Sunday for the federal council chair position.

TimesLIVE reported that she replaces James Selfe, who announced in June that he would be stepping down.

Wasting no time after the news broke, Malema shared a meme that saw social media buzzing.

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Ndlozi joined in on the joke by sharing two laughing with tears emojis.

Confidence vs reality

SowetanLIVE reported that DA provincial leaders in the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Free State, Limpopo, and Northern Cape were confident Trollip would win, saying he was the right man for the job.

Last week Trollip told the DispatchLIVE he had made himself available for the position because of his “great affection for this party”, and his belief that the DA “represents the only realistic alternative to the failing ANC”.

“The challenges the DA is facing are centred on factional interpretation of what we are trying to achieve, which is ‘one SA for all’ based on ‘freedom, fairness, opportunity, and diversity’.

"Factionalism occurs when there is weak leadership and ill-discipline. I believe I can strengthen both,” he said.

Trollip even threw shade at Zille's way, saying her time had “come and gone”, SowetanLIVE reported.

“I fancy my chances against Helen Zille. There's a Greek philosophy that says one shouldn't step in the same river twice. She resigned of her own volition and handed over.

“I believe there's a time to come and a time to go, and she's had both.”