Welcome to Juju Valley, where shacks are rent-free

A campaign placard of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) is seen on a shack in the Juju Valley informal settlement, on the outskirts of Polokwane. Picture: Guillem Sartorio/AFP

A campaign placard of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) is seen on a shack in the Juju Valley informal settlement, on the outskirts of Polokwane. Picture: Guillem Sartorio/AFP

Published May 7, 2019

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Polokwane - Welcome to Juju Valley, where some 600 families live in neat rows of shacks built from corrugated iron sheets and tidy gardens.

As South Africa prepares to vote on Wednesday in the sixth general election since the advent of democracy, nearly every shack in Juju Valley is festooned with bright red posters supporting the Economic Freedom Fighters and its Commander in Chief Julius Malema or "Juju". 

The vast plot of dry and dusty land on the outskirts of the northern Limpopo city of Polokwane was, the party says, donated to EFF by a private owner three years ago.

The EFF's flagship policy is to seize land from white owners without compensation and give it to poor blacks.

Since then some 600 families have moved here. There is no electricity and no running water, but the residents don't have to pay any rent.

"I don't have to pay rent, so that's why I love Juju Valley," says Esther Letsoalo, an EFF supporter and fast food business owner who moved to Juju Valley after losing her job. 

Esther Letsoalo, an EFF supporter and fast food business owner, and her partner hang political material on her shop in Juju Valley. Picture: Guillem Sartorio/AFP

The residents say they all know each other well and help each other out when in need.

They claim the area is one of the rare crime-free settlements in South Africa.

Godfrey Mattatse is unemployed and says he will vote for the EFF because they have given him and his wife a rent-free shack. 

"The EFF is the only party (that) has been fighting for us", he says.

A Juju Valley resident can be seen wrapped in an EFF blanket. Picture: Guillem Sartorio/AFP

Polls suggest the EFF - which won six percent of the votes in 2014 just nine months after it was set up - could nearly double that on May 8 vote by tapping into the anger of millions of poor, unemployed black South Africans.

AFP

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Julius Malema