PA mayoral candidate Liam Jacobs vows to make Cape Town accessible for all with R12 bus tickets
When you take her on a date, everything seems perfectly fine, and you fall in love.
But on the second date, she becomes the person your mother warned you about.
That is how Liam Jacobs, the Patriotic Alliance’s (PA) mayoral candidate for Cape Town, described the city as it is today.
And though he is only 24 years old, the former ANC and DA man has already made a name for himself as a straight-talking politician with a no-nonsense attitude.
“The city presented to the world is beautiful, full of heart,” the erstwhile firebrand MP said.
“But the reality for ordinary residents was very different — rent is high, commuting is expensive, and safety is a concern.
“There are red flags, but also green flags … we have got to fix her and make her better and trust me, I will do just that.”
In an interview on Monday, Jacobs spoke about his lofty goals for Cape Town — a city he hoped to lead as first citizen after what he predicted would be a sweeping defeat for the incumbent administration in the next local elections.
The elections will be held sometime between November 2 2026, and January 31 2027.
From slashing MyCiTi bus tickets to just R12 no matter where you are going, to capping household bills for working-class families at 5–7% of their income, to a vacancy tax to free up unused properties, Jacobs is promising a Cape Town that lives up to his slogan — “a city for all of us.”
He also said he wanted to make the streets safer by tackling gang violence head-on and restoring theatres, stadiums, and sports grounds.
“My concern is nothing else but to make the lives of the ordinary Capetonians better and better,” Jacobs, who joined the PA three months ago, said.
“We will be in the communities on a daily basis, actively working to change the city.”
Jacobs was born and raised in Kimberley and studied philosophy, politics, and economics at the University of Pretoria.
He quickly made a name for himself nationally after posting viral TikTok videos that laid bare the shambolic state of some parts of SA and failed government projects.
It was those videos that made him a recognisable face.
He came to Cape Town as a young politician, spending time in communities across the city to see what works and what does not.
“Cape Town currently is not one city,” he said.
“There is a Cape Town built for the elite and ultra-wealthy, and there’s a Cape Town for the rest of Capetonians, where life is unsafe, where rent is too much, and where rates and taxes are out of control.”
Affordability, he said, was the city’s biggest challenge.
Commuting, according to him, eats up a large portion of salaries.
“People pay R30 or R40 to go literally around the corner … that is money that could go to food, rent, or savings,” he said.
Jacobs proposed a flat R12 fare for the MyCiTi bus system.
“Data shows that where you introduce a flat fare, ridership goes up, more people take the bus, and congestion decreases.
“Public transport will be expanded so people can move around safely and affordably.”
Municipal bills were another pressure point.
Jacobs said he wanted to cap household bills for middle- and lower-income families at five to seven percent of their income.
“This is going to help us a lot because it is also going to improve revenue and rates collection in the city itself.
“You would have more people that would put their hands up, more people that would then comply, and then more revenue for the city itself.
“The tax burden would be shifted to foreign owned luxury properties, and vacant properties to make up for the lost income.
“The measure will be set up to protect families in Bo-Kaap, Salt River and so on from being victims of the city’s current vicious rates regime.
“Under my government, ordinary Capetonians will be protected.”
Housing, he said, was the most urgent problem.
Families are crammed into tiny, substandard units while prime land is sold to luxury developers, according to Jacobs.
“The government is building box-sized homes for families in areas designated by the [apartheid regime] while selling land to developers for homes our people can’t afford,” he said.
“I will also introduce a rental regulatory authority to freeze the rent in areas where rent is spiralling out of control.”
He instead proposed inclusionary housing, upgrading informal settlements, protecting backyard dwellers, and introducing a vacancy tax on unused properties.
“We need to speed up delivery and help first-time homeowners with a city-backed mortgage guarantee fund.
“Everyone deserves a leg up.”
Safety is another top priority, he said.
Jacobs said the current administration over-polices Black and Coloured areas without addressing root causes of crime.
“They criminalise the existence of ordinary residents without addressing the social problems that sit at the root of gangsterism, drug violence, and gang violence,” he said.
His approach to tackling the city’s ills combines policing with social interventions such as counsellors, social workers, and community programmes aimed at breaking the cycle of crime.
“We will break the pipeline to gangsterism … we will provide opportunities and intervention before it is too late.”
Jacobs, who during his tenure as a DA MP served on the sports, arts and culture portfolio committee, said arts, sports, and after-school programmes also played a role in his vision.
“Cape Town is a hub for creatives but it is currently an environment not conducive to the creative staying here for long,” he said.
“We want young Capetonians to have a space to grow, to create, and to play.
“Restoring theatres, stadiums, and sports grounds in our communities is part of that. Affordability and opportunity together can keep talent here.”
Transparency was another cornerstone of his campaign.
Having spent years on social media, he plans to show residents the city’s progress in real time.
“The national treasury has previously said that about two to five percent of spending is lost — it is wasted expenditure.
“Introducing an e-procurement mechanism that is transparent from start to finish will save the city R200m to R300m.
“And social media will show residents what we’re doing with their money every day.”
Making his ambitious goals a reality, he said, was possible without raising ordinary Capetonians’ taxes.
Dialing back the rates-free exemption for high-value properties, introducing vacancy taxes, leasing municipal properties, and using green bonds are all part of the plan.
“It is not taking from anyone unfairly.
“It is using taxes wisely so everyone benefits, not just some.
“The ultra-wealthy need to pay their fair share to make sure those fighting for a leg up, who want a better life, have the opportunity to live that better life too.”
Jacobs said he was not afraid to challenge the status quo.
“Things don’t need to be done the way they’ve always been done.
“We can and will change the city via our vote in \[the upcoming local government elections].
“Many will come and say that we cannot do it … many will call us socialists … they will call us communists.
“They will call us idealists. But one thing they will never call us is liars.
“The truth is, we can really change the city if we all put our hands together and work together.”
And if Cape Town were a person, he said, she would be kind and full of heart — but one who needs care and attention.
“It is that person that on the first date seems perfect, everything is right, everything works, but when you go further, you see the issues beneath the surface.
“There are red flags, but there are also green flags.
“The heart is in the right place. We’ve got to fix her and make her better.”
Jacobs said he would fulfill his promise to ordinary residents.
“I love the people of Cape Town and I am fighting for the ordinary Capetonian every single day.
“That is what we are doing. That is what the Patriotic Alliance is doing.
“We are fighting for the ordinary Capetonian every single day.”
He sees the elections as a turning point.
“We are going to show residents that we are not a forgotten people.
“We have remembered who we are, what we are, and we are going to absolutely dominate in the polls and take these elections.”
And yes, he would want to take the Mother City on another date at the end of his term should he be elected, because then, he said, she would be flawless.
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