The Bridge City Shopping Centre in KwaMashu, north of Durban, reopened its doors to trading on Thursday.
The centre was badly damaged during the unrest in July 2021, after it was looted and set alight.
Smital Rambhai of Futuregrowth Asset Management says, fortunately, investors did not lose their money, because insurance paid for the damages in full.
Rambhai says they hope to restore the jobs that were lost.
The Bridge City Mall was built in 2009.
It serves the communities around KwaMashu, Inanda and Phoenix.
The Bridge City Shopping Centre situated in KwaMashu, that was looted and destroyed during the civil unrest in 2021, has been re-opened. Almost all 95 shops have returned to the mall. It’s owned by Futuregrowth Asset Management. 1500 jobs lost, to be restored #sabcnews pic.twitter.com/A2cj0KGEeN
— Vusi Khumalo (@djvuslo) April 5, 2023
During the July 2021 unrest it was targeted by looters.
After all 110 stores in the mall were looted and set alight, all that was left was the roof and exterior walls.
“Going back to July 2021 it was quite devastating, it was a tragic event unprecedented in South Africa. You know this shopping centre was completely destroyed through the riot, everything was burnt down, all that was left was a roof structure and the exterior walls and we actually had to rebuild the centre from scratch. The damage that was done here was over R700 million but it was fully repaid by Sasria, our investors did not lose a cent. It is approximately over 1 500 people who lost their jobs in the areas of KwaMashu, iNanda, Ntuzuma and Phoenix, we anticipate with the reopening of the mall we will restore the jobs that were lost.”
Shoppers are delighted that their local mall is back in business.
Lebo Nkoane and Phumzile Chamane say they believe those who had participated in destroying the mall had learnt a hard lesson as people lost their jobs.
“I think they have because there are so many youth who are sitting at home and they are actually struggling and regretting due to the fact that obviously the looting has cost us so much. even the economy suffered. This will be something that benefit the economy, I mean the new mall reopening. We regret that people had looted but life has to continue. I’m very happy because our mall is back. We no longer had to travel to Umhlanga, all over, to some other malls that are very far from us but now we are so excited.”
EThekwini mayor, Mxolisi Kaunda has urged communities to protect facilities that benefit them.
#sabcnews The Bridge City shopping centre in KwaMashu north of Durban reopens its doors to trading. The centre was badly damaged during the unrest in July 2021 as it was looted and set alight. pic.twitter.com/K8OqL8Qe5m
— Nonkululeko Hlophe (@Leko3) April 5, 2023
Kaunda says the 2021 July unrest affected many in terms of income.
“We are very excited about this reopening of Bridge City. If you look at the number of jobs during the unrest July 2021 more than 1 500 people lost their jobs in this mall, they are now guaranteed that jobs will be brought back to them which then affected livelihood and affected the economy of the city. The action of our communities for looting our malls burning them because that on its own has set us and made us to regress as a city.”
The owners of the mall say a total of 95 shops, including retailers, banks and eateries, have returned. They have also beefed-up security.
