Shopping center construction sparks entrepreneurial spirit

The construction of a new shopping centre in Pretoria East on Solomon Mahlangu Drive created temporary chaos with road closures around the construction sites, but some residents have found a way to turn the havoc into cash.

On the busy corner of Lynnwood Road and Solomon Mahlangu Drive, Zandile Molefe gets ready for the lunchtime rush of customers from the local developments in the area and other loyal customers.

“I have been in this spot for two years now. Some of my customers drive from their sites over town to eat lunch here. I used to be across the street, but had to move when they completed that development,” she said.

Mobile kitchen started in 2021

Molefe said she started her mobile kitchen in 2021 and that Mondays, Fridays and paydays were her busiest times.

“I started with pap and vleis, stew, hard body chicken and veg. You know, traditional food,” she said.

One of her first customers, Peter Nkosi, is a regular who has bought lunch for himself and his team of workers each day since meeting her two years ago. “Not only is the food good, it’s close by,” he said.

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Molefe said she used to move her kitchen with the construction sites but decided to settle in the area because business was good.

“Even after the construction ended, they kept on supporting me. So, most of them have remained. They know the quality of the food and my menu, so they come back. They have become family,” she said.

Molefe said even though a Nando’s and a Chicken Licken opened across the road from her, her business kept on booming.

“Their workers also buy from me, because it’s better quality, it’s homemade food,” she said.

Entrepreneurial spirit

Around the corner, Thebo Lehlonono has been selling cigarettes and chips on the side of the road for 12 years.

“I used to sell across the road but the people at We Buy Cars didn’t want us there, so we moved. But we are making money,” he said.

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Lehlonono said his biggest clients were the shop workers from the malls in the area on their way to work and back.

Betty Nkambule said she drove past the construction site on the corner of Lynnwood and Solomon Mahlangu six months ago when she got the idea to park her mobile kitchen at the entrance of the site.

“By lunchtime, I am sold out. When I get here in the morning, I start cooking and by lunchtime, I am done for the day,” she said.

Excitement about development in the area

A resident, Jacqui Uys, said she was very excited about the development in the area.

Uys said previously the city asked for bulk fees when someone wanted to develop.

The fees were paid to the city and the city was responsible for the development.

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“This practice has changed where the city now dictates to the developer what to develop and what the standard is, rather than accepting the fees,” she said.

Uys said Lynnwood Road has had a traffic problem for years but the upgrade to the area would add two carriageways from Grove shopping mall to Solomon Mahlangu Drive with road shoulders.

But the taxi drivers in the area weren’t enthusiastic about the upgrades.

One said the development didn’t bring in more business or commuters because the workers were Zimbabweans and not South Africans.