Durban — More than 1 500 people will soon return to work at the Bridge City Shopping Centre in KwaMashu. The centre has been closed since being damaged during the 2021 July unrest.
This was confirmed by Future Community Property (Comprop) fund manager Smital Rambhai at the Bridge City ribbon-cutting event on Wednesday.
Attending the event were the centre’s owners, Futuregrowth Community Property Fund, Capital Land Asset Management and eThekwini mayor Mxolisi Kaunda.
Rambhai said many people lost their jobs as a result of the looting and he was happy to announce that all stores were going to open.
“The July 2021 riots will for ever remain in our memories as one of the most tragic events in South African history, with approximately 1 563 jobs lost at Bridge City Shopping Centre.
“We estimate that these jobs would have affected at least 10 000 lives in the communities of Phoenix, Inanda, Ntuzuma and KwaMashu, who are supported by the income earned by staff working at the centre.
“Both Futuregrowth and Capital Land set an immediate strategy after the riots had settled to embark on restoring the economic support that the centre provides to the community,” he said.
Rambhai said the centre was developed in 2009 with the objective of stimulating economic growth and empowering communities.
“The aim was to also improve public transport and employment opportunities, as well as access to high-quality retail and good services at an affordable price,” said Rambhai.
He said many customers expressed concern over the centre's closure and worry over losing their jobs.
Etienne Hairbottle, the centre’s manager, said it took a year-and-a-half to finish the construction of the centre.
“After the looting, we did a demolishing phase that took three months and started the construction process in January last year. We did not face many challenges during the rebuilding process because we got a lot of help from community members. Some shops re-employed their staff and a lot of construction work on the project was community-based,” said Hairbottle.
He said management had put measures in place to prevent damage should the looting happen again.
eThekwini mayor Mxolisi Kaunda said the reopening of the centre brought in new hope for a brighter and more prosperous future for the residents of eThekwini Municipality.
“We are delighted to be here to witness this beautiful event and we would like to thank Futuregrowth Community Property Fund for rebuilding this property after it was damaged during the 2021 July Civil unrest. We need to condemn this deed because it is something that must be rooted out in our society because it leaves people without jobs and causes damage to their livelihood and damages the economy of the city.
“We need to run awareness programmes to our committees that the damage that it had during these riots had a bad impact on the economy,” said Kaunda.
Bridge City Shopping Centre, established in 2009, is a double-level, enclosed centre with anchor tenants Shoprite, SuperSpar and Woolworths.
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