Why are we showing pictures of a shopping mall some of our overseas readers might ask?
The Mdantsane City Mall was opened in April 2008.The opening was attended by the then Premier of the Eastern CapeNosimo Balindlela, Executive Mayor
Zintle Peter; the chairman of developers Billion Group, Sisa Ngebulana as well as
retail managers and local business people.
With 91 shops Mdantsane City is the second biggest mall in the province behind Greenarchers in Port Elizabeth.
Balindlela said at the opening:
"Mdantsane people will not have to go to East London now, they will have
their own mall, and this is thanks to the Billion Group. I urge the people
to seize this opportunity and use this mall and be part of its success."
She also thanked the private sector for coming up with an initiative
that would help create employment for the township's people.
"The
government cannot succeed without assistance from the private sector and
this mall is proof of that. Every citizen of Mdantsane has a place in
this mall, and we should all take ownership."
The chairman of the developers Billion group Sisa Ngebulana expressed at the time his happiness that the mall was completed on time so that the people of Mdantsane could use it.
"Before this mall was constructed local people had to go to town to do
their shopping; they also went to Vincent Mall, spending around R50 on
transport. Now with this mall here, people will be able to shop closer
to home," he said. The mall, which is in NU6, was easily accessible as it was on the main
road and had a taxi rank inside it. Ngebulana said that before the group
decided to build the mall, it had undertaken a lot of research, which
had found that Mdantsane residents had considerable buying power.
"The Mdantsane people spend about R650-million annually and we feel that
this mall's turnover could be around that figure. I want to urge people
to use this mall so that retailers continue investing here."
The mall was expected to create about 1 200 jobs.
And this is how the mall looks like in 2012 at pay day.
Plan for a long wait at the cash machines
The images are not that great because we had to take them in our secret manner. In South Africa you are not allowed to take pictures in a shopping mall.
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