Spooky shopping mall in South Africa’s capital where most shops are empty

The Tshwane China Shopping Mall, formerly known as the Zambezi Mall, is one of two huge malls in Pretoria where development or leasing activity has stalled—despite plans to restart it.

The malls are part of Nova Property Group’s portfolio and account for a significant portion of its assets under management.

Nova was established to pick up the pieces of the Sharemax property syndication scheme, which collapsed in 2010/11, halting lofty plans for the developments.

The Villa—known as Pretoria’s ‘ghost mall’—was only 75% complete at the time, while Zambezi Mall was in the process of filling leases.

Unfortunately, both of these malls are now tied up in decade-long litigation with various parties, effectively freezing them in time.

Nova has not given an update on the plans for these malls in over a year.

However, Nova CEO Dominique Haese told BusinessTech that the group’s last communication on the malls still represents the group’s intentions with the projects.

The last update on the path forward for The Villa and Tshwane China Shopping Mall (Zambezi) was given in December 2023.

The group said that it was actively pursuing investment to complete The Villa, but the ongoing litigation hampered its ability to raise funding.

For Zambezi/Tshwane China Shopping Mall, the group said it is “holding its position” on leasing and tenanting until other litigation concludes.

“Unfortunately, no further detail than what has been communicated can be shared at this stage, but anything material will be communicated when appropriate,” Haese said.

Plans for Tshwane China Shopping Mall

The December 2023 plans for Tshwane China Shopping Mall, still being referred to as Zambezi Mall by the group, were largely a form of ‘regrouping’.

Nova said that gross mismanagement under the head lease resulted in theft and vandalism at the mall, which was being pursued through even more litigation.

Further, the group flagged a dispute between the City of Tshwane over electricity supply.

As such, the mall had a high vacancy percentage, and the remaining tenants were regrouped into a smaller section of the building.

It said that while there was interest in leasing opportunities, the electricity issues were a deterrent.

It said other parts of the building would be opened, and future services would be based on demand from any lessors.

When BusinessTech visited the mall in December 2024, we found many of the issues flagged by Nova to be true.

Much of the mall was empty, giving it a very ‘spooky’ feel.

It was dark, with no escalators or elevators working—reflecting the electricity problems—and the few tenants there were isolated to one entrance and limited space.

Plans for The Villa

The Villa is one of the primary focus points of the Nova Group’s plans, which it had intended to complete by the end of 2026.

The mall was a R3.5 billion development that kicked off January 2009 and was expected to reach practical completion at the end of August 2011.

Instead, it has been sitting abandoned and empty for 15 years.

Nova said that the development, being in a prime location, nearly complete, and with all rights and plans approved, just needs the necessary funding to be completed.

It is assumed that it would cost over R1 billion to complete the project.

The group’s 2023 communique did not include an update on this problematic aspect of the plans, though. The Villa’s continued presence as a ‘ghost mall’ indicates that not much has happened since.

The centre is frozen in phase 1 of its development, comprising a gross building area of over 300,000 square metres, of which a third is zoned for offices, conferencing facilities, education, training and retail.

The gross lettable area is almost 90,000 sqm, which would have made it one of the biggest malls in the region.

When BusinessTech visited the mall in October 2024, we found that the “ghost mall” moniker was well-founded, with the building sitting abandoned among overgrown foliage.

Haese said that the group still aims to complete the construction of the Villa Mall “as expeditiously as possible” and to repay relevant Villa Debenture Holders who had historically invested in this project.

“This is funding dependent, which is being pursued and simultaneously, legal disputes will have to be resolved, which remain in process,” she said.