One Love Alliance enters Cape Town election with 10-point manifesto

The One Love Alliance has entered the 2026 Cape Town municipal election race, launching a 10-point manifesto at the Royal Ras Centre in Hatton Estate, Athlone, on Saturday. As IOL reported on 21 September, the newly formed alliance is led by mayoral candidate Duwayne Jacobs, who said he was previously a member of the NCC before forming the new political formation.

Jacobs said the decision to leave the NCC followed feedback from people who wanted a movement not so fixated on what he described as the Coloured narrative. He said the alliance was established on the principle that no race is superior over another. “This is not a Rastafari movement,” he said. “We have people from all walks of life.”

The manifesto, launched under the banner “Dignity, Land, Opportunity, Equality”, identifies gender-based violence prevention, youth skills, land reform and housing, economic empowerment, safety, basic service delivery, social development, affordable electricity, women’s economic empowerment and transparent local governance as its key priorities. The alliance says it will centre its approach on measurable targets, public reporting and greater community participation in municipal decision-making.

Land and housing feature prominently. The manifesto proposes identifying suitable public and historically significant land for lawful development, while considering serviced plots, incremental housing and informal settlement upgrades.

Jacobs raised the Black River Cemetery as an example of the pressure on land in the city, saying the City wants to rezone the area for business purposes. “What about our heritage and our people who are buried there?” he said. “It seems like all the land is being allocated to the investors.”

He also criticised what he described as apartheid-era spatial planning in Cape Town and raised the housing waiting list. “The courts have already agreed that this City is continuing with apartheid-like spatial planning,” he said. “In the Western Cape there are over 600 000 people on the waiting list. In Mitchells Plain alone there are about 40 000 people.”

The manifesto further calls for stronger support for local SMMEs, cooperatives and emerging contractors, improved basic services and safer public spaces.

Jacobs said the alliance was already receiving support in communities including Mitchells Plain, Elsies River and Delft. “Things are really looking good for us,” he said. “We are receiving so much support. Wherever we go, communities rock up in their numbers at our events. We are confident of our victories here.”

The local government elections are set for 4 November 2026.

Source: IOL, ‘No race is superior’: One Love Alliance targets housing crisis and GBV as it enters Cape Town race