Pan Africa Mall was built on a square piece of land with a profound history in the memory of the liberation struggles of the African people in Alexandra.
The area was a place for meeting of minds and a melting pot of thoughts and plans to craft a way forward in the fight for the restoration of the dignity of the African people from the then-apartheid regime and its predecessors.
One such prominent icon of the Pan Africa Square was the legendary ‘MoAfrica’, as the wordsmith Josias Madzunya was known. He trekked from his home in deep Alex along Rooth Street – now named after him – to the square to share and preach the political sermon of the day.
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Madzunya was a member of the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania of the late Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe, a breakaway founder of the party from the ANC.
Pan Mall founding architect and businessman Tebogo Mogashoa, chairperson of Tebfin Ltd, Talis Holdings and Cloudseed, sought to leverage the African continental square by building a mall in remembrance of the political stalwarts who graced Pan.
He had a grand idea of delivering food, clothes, jobs and other items closer to impoverished and neglected people as part of an upliftment programme for the township. Little did he know that 22 years down the line, his dream would be destroyed and looted to the bone by the generations of the very same community he sought to uplift.
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The mall was opened in 2009 by then-president Jacob Zuma as part of the Alexandra renewal initiative of the later-turned infamous Alexandra Renewal Project (ARP).
When the first post-democracy recession hit South Africa soon after the 2010 Soccer World Cup, Mogashoa then told Alex News, “People in Alexandra know nothing about the recession. Recession or no recession, they keep coming in and buying. When they want to buy takkies, they just come and buy them, regardless of whether there is a recession or not.”
At the time, Pan Africa Mall thrived as other malls in the city were buckling under the strain of the recession. But today, July 14, it is a shell of its former self and rebuilding it will take time.
Operations manager of the mall Alton Werrett expressed his devastation following the persistent looting of the facility. He told Alex News that the next task is to work with law enforcement agencies currently stationed there to secure the mall. “There is very little that can be done until the place is finally secured to an extent that no more looters can gain access. Currently, people keep coming back to strip copper wires and other scrap items they can lay their hands on to sell.
“Our biggest task now is to try and secure the place and ensure no one can walk in again. As I speak to you, law enforcement agencies are still fighting running battles with the looting returnees, and that tells us there is still a long way to go.”
He added, “Once that is done, we will then bring in the insurance people to assess the amount of the damage done, and we will take it from there.
“I wish the community understands that this is their facility which is there to serve them.”
Werrett concluded that he wondered what the future holds for those who have lost their jobs as a result of this anarchy and what will happen when the looted food items run dry.
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