[1] He grew up in Riverlea, a township near Langlaagte in the former Transvaal (now part of Gauteng province) that was designated for Coloureds under apartheid.
[10] After the 2009 general election, Nomvula Mokonyane, who succeeded Mashatile as Premier, did not reappoint Jacobs to the Executive Council but instead made him her special advisor and head of a new Planning Commission to be established in her office.
[2] After he left provincial government, Jacobs worked full-time at Luthuli House, the ANC's headquarters in Johannesburg, as the party's general manager.
[2] In early 2017, he was implicated in a scandal about a covert "dirty tricks" campaign allegedly run by the ANC against opposition parties ahead of the 2016 local government elections.
[12] On 29 January, the Sunday Times reported that the ANC leadership had told Jacobs to resign from his position or face dismissal.