Bridge City re-opens almost two years after it was looted

BRIDGE City Shopping Centre in KwaMashu officially reopened following its closure in July 2021.

The shopping centre shut its doors as a result of extensive damage and looting during the nationwide riots that year.

The iconic 40 000m2 regional shopping centre, owned by the Futuregrowth Community Property Fund which is managed by Capital Land Asset Management (Capital Land), originally opened in 2009 in the centre of Bridge City, a mixed-use precinct which connects the communities of Phoenix, Inanda, Ntuzuma and KwaMashu.

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It was developed with the objective of stimulating economic growth and empowering these communities through improved access to public transport, employment opportunities, services, and retail offerings.

Smital Rambhai, the Fund Manager of Comprop, said, “The July 2021 riots will forever 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.

According to Rambhai, they 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 Bridge City Shopping Centre provides these communities.

Rambhai added that one of the key priorities was to restore access to essential goods and services, which they did with SUPERSPAR trading as early as June 2022, while the rest of the centre was being reconstructed.

“As President Nelson Mandela once said, ‘The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall,’ and we have risen with great glory today with the opening of Bridge City Shopping Centre,” added Rambhai.