DURBAN - The Ridge mall in Chatsworth, west of Durban, is slowly rising from the ashes after it was left damaged during looting, violence and civil unrest in KwaZulu-Natal in July.
On its Facebook page last Friday, The Ridge Shopping Centre posted that it was on its way back.
“With the support and encouragement from our valued shoppers, tenants and clients of Oasis we are making progress in rebuilding the mall. Our construction has commenced and we are so excited to welcome our shoppers to a revamped and upgraded mall relaunching soon!” the post said.
According to a video posted by the centre, the clean-up operations at the shopping centre started in September 2021. The outside and inside of the centre were cleaned. Rubble from the stores was also cleared.
This is how people reacted to the news:
Melanie Ishwar said she couldn’t wait. She missed her favourite mall but called for safety measures to be put in place to prevent any recurrence.
Venishree Govender said: “The Sanctuary of Essence will be one of the stores still operating at the reopening of The Ridge Mall. We welcome ourselves to this new era of servicing our clients once again. It has been a very tough journey thus far as we were looted to the ground. This bad experience has made us understand to appreciate life, look at the business and our personal lives differently. As much as there is so much anger but at the same time, we need to rise up like the Phoenix. Sanctuary of Essence carries a wide range of local and international healthcare products. We are now temporarily based at the back of the Rising Sun building in the Rising Sun Business Park. 031 4094165 / 0731644690.”
“Many thanks goes out to the Ridge team for putting the reinstatement of this mall together.”
Govender Elaine said well done to all involved in the restoration project. May the destruction never happen again.
Tracey Singh said: “Can't wait omw I'm super excited that's our place of work.”
Anastacia Murugasen said: “They should be absolutely ashamed of what they have done to this beautiful mall… This is the same mall that made life so convenient for them because they were all nearby to get food and other general stuff… Now they all were suffering and walking distances to get stuff from other malls… I hope this taught them a good lesson and may they never repeat that kind of behaviour again!”
Daily News