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

The newly formed One Love Alliance, led by mayoral candidate Duwayne Jacobs, has officially entered the 2026 Cape Town municipal election race. Jacobs, a veteran politician, emphasized that the alliance is not a Rastafari movement and is composed of individuals from diverse backgrounds. The group's pre-election manifesto, unveiled at the Royal Ras Centre in Athlone, outlines a ten-point plan focused on addressing land reform, housing, unemployment, and service delivery as its primary objectives.

The alliance's priorities include preventing gender-based violence, enhancing youth skills, promoting economic empowerment, ensuring safety, improving basic service delivery, fostering social development, providing affordable electricity, encouraging women's economic empowerment, and promoting transparent local governance. Key areas of focus are measurable targets, public reporting, and increased community participation in municipal decision-making.

Land and housing are significant concerns for the alliance, which proposes identifying suitable public and historically significant land for lawful development, considering serviced plots, incremental housing, and upgrading informal settlements. Jacobs criticized the city's apartheid-era spatial planning and the backlog of housing awaiting residents, with over 600,000 people on the waiting list in the Western Cape, and nearly 40,000 in Mitchells Plain alone. The alliance's support is growing in communities such as Mitchells Plain, Elsies River, and Delft.