By Adele Shevel and Victor Khupiso

Shoppers started queuing at dawn for the opening of the Maponya Mall in Soweto on Thursday.

While most stores opened for business on time, a few were still being polished and cleaned when the doors swung open.

Even the heavy rain did not dampen the determination of bargain hunters from across Gauteng to get whatever they could out of the opening specials.

Traffic backed up and officers had to be brought in to keep vehicles moving.

As late as 9pm, after a day of shops struggling to control crowds and many hunts for missing children, the mall was still full of shoppers.

Later, many were seen walking along the nearby roads, carrying televisions and music systems, or plastic bags full of groceries.

A resident of Orlando East, Lindiwe Ntuli, who was one of those who queued as early as 5am and who bought herself a television set, said she had a successful day.

"It was very cheap. That is why I woke up early and was the first person in the queue. I'm happy."

The launch of the Maponya Mall ? among the biggest in the southern hemisphere ? shows the spending power of Soweto, and by implication, many of South Africa's other large, urban townships.

Soweto accounts for the largest proportion of the population of Johannesburg. More than 40% of the city's residents, about 900000 people, live there, according to estimates.

Soweto is an icon of resistance to apartheid and of democratic South Africa. In some surveys, it is rated as the country's top tourist attraction.

The importance of the mall as a symbol of the successful economic development of Soweto was underlined by the fact that Nelson Mandela, who has reduced his public appearances, attended the opening and cut the ribbon to launch the centre.

The opening ceremony took place in front of a life-sized bronze memorial statue of Hector Pietersen, one of the first students killed in the 1976 Soweto uprising against apartheid- tainted education.

The launch of the mall was also a dream come true for Richard Maponya, a Sowetan entrepreneur, who struggled under apartheid to build a business empire from virtually nothing. He has been putting in place the building blocks for the mall for the past 28 years.

Now, of the 200 stores in the mall, only six have not been let.

Property developer Zenprop and Maponya have financed 85% of the R650-million mall, with Investec putting in the other 15%. Big anchor tenants include clothing store Edgars, Pick 'n Pay Hypermarket and Woolworths. Food outlets include Steers, McDonald's, Primi Piatti, Wimpy and Mugg & Bean.

All the big brand names: Spitz, Nike, Puma, Occhiali Sunglasses, Old Khaki, Guess, Frasers and Kurt Geiger are present.

The Perfume Garden, which sells perfumes put together from oils imported from France in straight-forward packaging, has also opened shop.

This is its fifth store. Its other branches are in the Jabulani Mall in Soweto, Protea Gardens, Secunda and Berea in Durban.

Rambelini Fabrics is the first shop of its kind for its owner, who previously sold his goods from home.

Linen business Sheet Street was doing a roaring trade minutes after opening, with queues having to be managed on entering. Woolworths has slightly changed its product mix to suit the preferences of the local market segment.

Some products are found in larger unit sizes, such as detergent, baby formula and cooking oil, and it also has a higher proportion of branded goods.

There is no homeware offering. Andrew Jennings, the retail managing director at Woolworths, said there wasn't enough space.

Jason Ngobeni, the executive director in the economic development department of the city of Johannesburg, said that in itself, the population of Soweto demonstrated its vast potential as a consumer market that would significantly contribute to the economic growth of Johannesburg as a whole.

To date, the township has been able to attract at least R5-billion in private infrastructure investment , said Ngobeni.

Maponya plans to open Motor World next year, which will host up to eight car dealerships in Orlando East, the site of his first two car dealerships.

"Maponya Mall not only makes us proud, it represents the graduation of businesses in Soweto and the potential for a previously disadvantaged township to evolve into an economic powerhouse," said Ngobeni.

But, while there is a lot of excitement about the mall, small local shops have been losing business to new developments.

"Local small businesses should not see the mall as competition aiming for their demise, but rather as filling one of the many needs existing in Soweto," said Ngobeni.

"We challenge the new malls to contribute to the continued social and economic growth of Soweto. Particularly, we seek to ensure that existing small businesses do not disappear.

"Hence, we are in the process of engaging with Soweto malls to mentor entrepreneurs who have always operated in Soweto to help them identify and fill other niche areas," he said.

Syd Vianello, retail analyst at Nedcor Securities, said he believed the mall would succeed, but there would be consequences for the central business districts, where customers used to shop. Stores in the centre of towns would have to reinvent themselves.

"They will have to cater for the residential component of the CBD. Those who work in town but live elsewhere will probably buy closer to home."

The economic growth of Soweto is mirrored in the new Lightstone Risk Management residential township property price index, released this week, which suggests that the property boom is far from over in township areas.

John Loos, FNB property strategist and co-author of the research, said the "impressive performance" of township property is due partly to upgrades in township infrastructure.

He predicts that a major retail drive will transform townships from dormitory towns into mixed-use economies. 
 

Sunday Times