Shopping in Soweto goes upmarket

By Peter Biles
BBC southern Africa correspondent

Developers say the project will retain Sowetan money in the area

Six thousand construction workers are scurrying to put the finishing touches to the Maponya Mall in Soweto.

The 650 million rand ($92m, £47m) complex, with its marble floors, is the largest shopping centre in southern Africa. Its official opening will be a major transformation for Soweto.

The sprawling township used to be synonymous with poverty, overcrowding, unemployment and political violence.

But these days Soweto, which was so much a part of the long struggle against apartheid, has become the site of massive development.

Property prices are rising, and international tourists visit Nelson Mandela's former family home.

'Black Diamonds'

The glitzy Maponya Mall is the life-long dream of 82-year-old Richard Maponya, who has owned the land here for 28 years.

He began his business ventures in Soweto in the 1950s with a dairy.

The burgeoning black middle class has been dubbed "Black Diamonds"

In the 1960s, he opened a butchery, grocery stores and a restaurant, and later liquor stores, petrol stations and car dealerships.

Mr Maponya has been assisted in the development of the massive new shopping centre in Pimville, Soweto, by his daughter, Chichi, who has made a name as a businesswoman in her own right.

The Maponya Mall contains 200 stores, including many of South Africa's top retailers, such as Pick 'n Pay, Woolworths and Edgars.

There is also an eight-screen cinema complex - Soweto's first.

The development is an important and timely boost for Soweto, with its population of more than one million.

South Africa's burgeoning black middle class has grown by a staggering 30% in the past 15 months, according to a recent survey on the so-called "Black Diamonds".

Changing times

The developers of the Maponya Mall say the project will retain Sowetan money in the area.

However, increasing numbers of middle-class Sowetans have already made the move to Johannesburg's mainly white northern suburbs.

'BLACK DIAMOND' FACTS Black middle class: 2.6m, 2007 Black middle class: 28% of annual buying power People moving from townships to suburbs each month: 50,000 Growth of "Black Diamonds" in 15 months: 30% Source: UCT Unilever Institute of Strategic Marketing

Not all of them see their future in the township, despite the upgrading of infrastructure that has been undertaken in recent years.

An estimated 47% of the Black Diamonds now live in the suburbs, and 12,000 households are on the move every month.

The challenge in Soweto, and across South Africa, is to reduce the high levels of unemployment that still exist in the poorer sections of society.

Last year, Soweto marked the 30th anniversary of the 1976 uprising when students rebelled against the white apartheid state in a protest over the use of Afrikaans as the medium of instruction in schools.

The memories of the past are not forgotten, but the township has changed almost beyond recognition.

Soweto is looking forward to the day when it can become a fully fledged twin city of Johannesburg, rather than just a dormitory town.