Mayor Mashaba unveils new R450-million Alex Mall
30 March 2017
The new multimillion-rand Alex Mall opens its doors to shoppers for the first time on Thursday March 30. The R450-million state-of-the art mall – which houses some of the country’s leading food and clothing retailers, banks and fast food outlets – was officially opened by Johannesburg Executive Mayor Cllr Herman Mashaba on Wednesday March 29.
Mayor Mashaba, who was accompanied by Member of the Mayoral Committee for Economic Development Cllr Sharon Peetz, said the opening of the 30 000sqm, 100-shop mall marked an important step in the redevelopment of the iconic Alexandra Township and in the contribution to the achievement of one of the new City administration’s Nine Key Priorities – growing Johannesburg’s economy by 5% and reducing unemployment by 6% by 2021.
Located on the Far East Bank, the mall is the brainchild of Mpho Motsumi, President of the Greater Alexandra Chamber of Commerce and the Johannesburg Property Company (JPC), the City of Johannesburg’s property management entity.
The chamber bought the land on which the mall has been developed from the City for R11-million. Construction started in October 2015. During this phase 400 jobs were created.
Mayor Mashaba praised Motsumi and his business partners for initiating the project, which has created 2 000 jobs, particularly for locals. He said the project fitted in well with his administration’s urban regeneration vision in key urban nodes such as Alexandra.
“This is a historic moment for Alex residents and the City of Johannesburg. This is the kind of development we’d like to see happening. We’re facing major challenges with the slowdown of economic growth in the country. With one in three people without jobs, unemployment is a big challenge as a result,” he said.
He said it was disappointing that 23 years after the advent of democracy, Alexandra was in a poor state of underdevelopment.
“We cannot afford to see Alex people living in such conditions. This mall is a starting point. It will allow people to spend money in their own community. This, in turn, will help create and sustain jobs,” Cllr Mashaba said.
He appealed to the community to help the City fight drug abuse. “Today’s tragedy is the level of drugs ravaging our communities. Nyaope is destroying lives. Please give us the mandate to get rid of this scourge because if we don’t there’s really going to be a big price to pay. For any community to survive we need to take care of families,” the Mayor said.
Motsumi thanked the community and land owners for supporting the project. He said as Alexandra’s 100-year legacy project, the mall’s development was a dream come true. “Alex is home away from home for many people. We need to change the face of Alex economically for it to become a better place to live in.”
He lauded JPC Chief Executive Officer Helen Botes and the City for the partnership.
The mall is anchored by Pick n Pay and Checkers and boasts tenants such as Edgars, Clicks, Truworths and Foschini as well as Builders Warehouse.