Athol Trollip has lost his bid to overturn his ousting as Nelson Mandela Bay mayor in the Eastern Cape High Court on Thursday.

Judge Elna Revelas dismissed Trollip's urgent application on Thursday morning, having reserved judgment last week.

The United Democratic Movement's (UDM's) Mongameli Bobani therefore remains mayor of Nelson Mandela Bay.

Revelas also announced that Mbulelo Manyati, the sole councillor to abstain during the motion of no confidence, was still a Democratic Alliance (DA) councillor until he resigned.

The judge ordered the DA and its coalition partners to pay Manyati's legal costs.

Trollip was removed by the African National Congress, Economic Freedom Fighters and UDM as mayor of Nelson Mandela Bay in August following a motion of no confidence.

Three days after his ousting, Trollip and his coalition partners – Congress of the People, the African Christian Democratic Party and the Patriotic Alliance – lodged an application seeking urgent review.

Advocate Dali Mpofu represented the opposition coalition in the High Court, arguing that the DA made a "miscalculated decision" to leave the council meeting before it had concluded its business of the day.

He said walking out of a meeting is a strategy used popularly across political spaces, but those walking out needed to ensure there was no quorum thereafter.