Durban - The growth and development of Pietermaritzburg and surrounding areas will depend largely on the commitment by local communities to protect their assets, such as shopping malls, as this will go a long way towards creating and retaining jobs for locals.
This is the view of Pietermaritzburg and Midlands Chamber of Business (PMCB) chief executive Melanie Veness, and comes following the opening of the first phase of the Edendale Mall yesterday.
The centre, along with Brookside Mall, was among the shopping centres gutted by fire during the looting in last year’s riots.
“First, I want to wholeheartedly welcome the re-opening of both malls and to applaud and thank the investors for their courage and the loyalty shown to our city,” said Veness.
She noted the devastating impact the looting had had on people’s lives which resulted in many job losses. “The damage to Edendale Mall totalled R230 million and we lost about 1 800 jobs from that site alone,” she added.
According to the PMCB, it took a lot of courage from the investors – who had suffered huge losses during the riots – to return to the area, and it was important for locals to demonstrate that such faith was not misplaced.
“The Pietermaritzburg community needs those jobs desperately, and we need to honour this reinvestment and support and protect these centres,” Veness said.
Msunduzi Municipality deputy mayor Mxolisi Mkhize said they were pleased to see the mall back in operation after such a long time.
“It is great delight for us as the municipality to see the first phase of the reopening taking place, and it really gives a sense of assurance that everything will be back to normal very soon,” said Mkhize.
He said what had been even more pleasing was to see employees who had been forced to stay at home, back at work. Mkhize said he was hopeful the reopening of the mall would rejuvenate the local economy and lead to more jobs. He noted how, besides jobs from shops that trade in the mall, other opportunities had emerged, especially in the transport sector, with taxis benefiting from commuting customers.
Edendale Mall’s Phakamani Khumalo said they were surprised at the massive turnout during yesterday’s opening.
“We knew that the response would be positive, but not to the levels that we saw today. This was beyond what we had imagined,” said Khumalo.
He said the turnout was also a tribute to all the staff who had worked around the clock in the past weeks preparing for the opening. “When you see a turnout like this, then you know that all the hard work was really worth it. It shows that the community has been waiting for this moment for quite a while,” he said.
Brookside Mall will open on September 22 and the Edendale Mall is expected to be fully operational by April next year.