Shopping centre in ruins

Landlord of the Rocklands shopping centre said they will rebuild and that the anchor tenant Shoprite will be back.

Shoprite’s media team told the Plainsman yesterday, Tuesday February 14, that they were “committed to reopen its Rocklands supermarket once the rebuild has been completed”.

The building that used to house Shoprite and other businesses was completely gutted after it caught alight on Wednesday December 14 (“Hawker had premonition of fire”, Plainsman, December 20).

Bricks and roof sheeting have since been scavenged from the building and taken away by the truckload. The fence has also been stolen (“Derelict centre being stolen brick by brick”, Plainsman February 1).

Owner of the property on the corner of Park Avenue and Caravelle Street, Small Enterprise Finance Agency (SEFA) held an online media briefing on Wednesday February 8.

Nothemba Gqiba, SEFA head of department for stakeholder marketing and communication, said vandalism and theft had pre-empted plans to have the building demolished.

“It was our plan to demolish the part that was burned down and commence with plans to fix and rebuild that portion that was burned,” she said.

“It was part of our initial plan. It is unfortunate that our plan was not to be because of what you had witnessed with regards to vandalism, the attacks and the structure being stolen,” she said.

Matshidiso Pilane, SEFA property portfolio manager, said people were starting to occupy what is left of the building.

“Two weeks ago plans were confirmed but the security guards were attacked. Plans put in place change daily. Parts of the building were stolen,” he said.

Mr Pilane said the last step now was to flatten the place to minimise the vandalism and vagrancy.

“We need to minimise any of those negative things happening,” he said.

Ms Gqiba said they would like to share the plan with the community and allay their fears.

On Saturday a pensioner knocking out and preparing to sell bricks told the Plainsman that he had a day job but needed some extra rands.

He sells the bricks at R1 each.

Across the road, vegetable hawker Moegmat Az-Azir Dupreez lamented the demise of the building, where he and his family had sold their wares from for decades.

His mother Fatima Dupreez had raised him and his siblings “onder die stand” (“Hawker had premonition of fire”, Plainsman December 20, 2022).

“Every morning it is so heartsore to be here.

“It is depressing. Every morning there are different faces stealing stuff. There is nothing left of this building,” he said.

Mr Dupreez thanked the landlord across the road from the shopping centre ruins in Park Avenue.

“All praise is due to God for blessing us.

“I don’t want to be rich. I just want to put bread and water on the table,” he said.

Danny Christians, councillor for Ward 79, said he was not impressed with all of the looting.

“They lifted the slabs, the paving, bricks and stole the back gate of the kitchen.

“Our people have a culture of looting and we must stop that,” he said.

Mr Christians said the community needed answers and had called SEFA, metro police, law enforcement, SAPS, and neighbourhood watch members to a meeting to secure the property.

Mr Christians said they have invited SEFA to attend a stakeholder meeting on Monday February 20, at 11.30am.

For more information call Mr Christians on 084 411 1166.