It is not yet known when exactly these malls will function again or whether or not they will be operating again anytime soon as most of them are extremely damaged. Bara Mall is one of them, the mall was destroyed to the core, and several organisations and the community in partnership with the City embarked on a cleanup campaign, supporting the #NoLooting movement at the mall, to clean up the mess and pick up whatever is left of the mall.
One of the shops that still had something left to save was Protea Bookshop, which was looted but no books were stolen, instead, some of the books were thrown on the floor and stepped on.
Seems like the trending picture of Exclusive Books Store trending on social media with a statement stating that bookshops are the only shops that won’t be looted, is accurate. According to the deputy store manager, Nonjabulo Ngubane, it wasn’t the intention of the looters to loot the bookshop but they did it because the door was allowing them access to the mall entrance.
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“They weren’t going to loot our store if it wasn’t for the door, unfortunately when they came through they realised that since we cater for students, we have gadgets, memory cards, music systems, stationaries, etc.
“They also bombed our safe and took all the electronics in there, in the book department they only stole dictionaries, and threw some of the books on the floor and because they were on a mission to just destroy, they discovered the sprinklers and broke them, as a result, some of the books became wet,” she said.
Ngubane also said that they entered their kitchen and took all their appliances. She also said that this will cost them millions to recover and they could do with the help of sponsorships and donations.
The Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, Ms. Barbara Creecy in partnership with the Speaker of Council in the City of Joburg, Cllr Nonceba Molwele, Each One Teach One Foundation, and PIKITUP also embarked on a cleanup drive in Diepkloof, starting at Diepkloof Square, then areas around Bara Taxi Rank and finally, Bara Mall.
The cleanup drive forms part of the mop-up activities in the aftermath of the rampant looting that took place in Soweto and Creecy said that she is proud of the community for uniting in cleaning up the mess, however, she was saddened by how people decided to throw books on the floor, stepping on them and destroying them the way they did.
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