Build One South Africa (BOSA) has unveiled Roger Solomons as its mayoral candidate for the City of Cape Town, with Solomons promising to ensure the city no longer works for only a select few but for every resident.
Launching his campaign ahead of the local government elections, Solomons said Cape Town’s next chapter should focus on affordability, inclusion and economic opportunity, saying too many residents were being left behind by the rising cost of living despite the city’s reputation for good governance.
Accepting the nomination on Saturday, Solomon pledged to fight for a city where opportunities are shared more equally among residents.
“I accept this with deep humility, profound gratitude, and an unwavering belief in the future of this city,” Solomons said.
“This responsibility comes with stepping forward in this way is significant. It is a responsibility to listen, to serve, and to help shape this beautiful city of ours, where opportunities are no longer just for a few, but for everyone.”
While acknowledging that Cape Town remained one of South Africa’s best-run municipalities, Solomons argued that effective administration alone was no longer enough.
“Services are more reliable here than in most parts of the country. Water infrastructure, financial administration – yes, we acknowledge this,” he said.
“We are here today not to dismiss that. But governance alone is not measured by clean audits. It is not measured by a stable government only.”
He said BOSA’s vision was to take Cape Town “from a city that works to a city where every resident feels part of its success”.
“Our next chapter is about affordability, safety, parity of service delivery and economic opportunity. This will be for everyone who calls the city home.”
Solomons said many Capetonians increasingly felt excluded from the city’s success as the rising cost of living continued to outpace incomes.
“It feels like a place where the cost of living just keeps moving ahead of us,” he said.
“It is a place where rent adjusts faster than our earnings, where transport absorbs more of the day and the pocket, where the distance between where people live and where opportunity sits is measured not only in kilometres, but in exhaustion.”
He said the city’s greatest challenge was ensuring that economic growth translated into improved living conditions for all residents.
“Cape Town deserves leadership that is fully committed to the city, honest about its challenges, ambitious about its future and, more importantly, compassionate towards its people.”
Describing Cape Town as one of the world’s most unequal cities, Solomons said affordability should become the organising principle of city governance.
“Cape Town should be the easiest city in South Africa to build a life, not the most expensive city to survive.”
He argued that every municipal decision should be judged by how it affects residents rather than municipal finances alone.
“Every decision must be measured against whether it improves the ability of ordinary residents to live, work and remain in the city. If it does not, it cannot stand.”
As part of BOSA’s programme, Solomons pledged to remove municipal business licence fees for qualifying small businesses during their first year of operation to encourage entrepreneurship and job creation.
“We will reduce the barriers to entry for small and micro enterprises because every barrier removed is a door opened, and every door that is open is a chance of income, dignity and independence.”
Housing affordability also featured prominently in his address.
Solomons said nearly 600 000 households remained on the City’s housing waiting list, while only just over 4 000 housing opportunities had been delivered during the past year.
“At this rate, it is going to take years to clear the current backlog,” he said.
He committed BOSA to doubling the pace of affordable housing delivery to at least 10 000 housing opportunities annually if elected.
Among the party’s proposals is a full audit of municipal-owned land within 90 days of taking office, with viable land earmarked for affordable housing developments within 24 months.
“We will establish a city land housing programme that ensures public land is used for public need.”
Solomons also proposed tighter regulation of short-term accommodation platforms in high-demand areas, arguing that they were contributing to Cape Town’s housing affordability crisis.
“There are almost 26 000 active short-term rentals in Cape Town — more than Berlin in Germany,” he said.
“We cannot allow millionaires and sometimes billionaires to buy up prime property and rent it into the tourist market. It cannot be right. It is an injustice.”
Solomons positioned BOSA as offering an alternative to the city’s current leadership — not by rejecting its governance record, but by shifting its priorities.
“I am not stepping up to lead Cape Town because I believe the city is broken,” he said.
“I am stepping up because I believe it is unfinished.”
