{"id":832282,"date":"2025-07-22T10:30:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-22T08:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=832282"},"modified":"2025-07-22T10:18:58","modified_gmt":"2025-07-22T08:18:58","slug":"the-creepy-shopping-mall-in-south-africas-capital-city-that-feels-like-a-zombie-apocalypse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/832282\/the-creepy-shopping-mall-in-south-africas-capital-city-that-feels-like-a-zombie-apocalypse\/","title":{"rendered":"The creepy shopping mall in South Africa\u2019s capital city that feels like a zombie apocalypse"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Tshwane China Mall, formerly Zambezi Mall, in Pretoria continues to operate as a shell of a retail centre, where there are often more security guards on duty than customers passing through.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BusinessTech visited the notorious mall in July to assess trading conditions and get an update on the centre’s distress operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We last visited the mall in December 2024, and the facilities have since fallen even further into dereliction and disrepair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The centre was previously mostly shuttered, leaving only one entrance open for the scant number of stores that remained open.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, in July 2025, only one store remained open, with even the main entryway into the parking area now closed up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The facilities have not been well maintained, with roads overgrown and the underground parking flooded. Inside the mall, only a few lights remain lit for the store. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was one large discount store operating in the entire mall, and we were only customers there at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking to security guards on duty, we were told that it felt like working in a warehouse, not a shopping mall, and that most days there would be more guards around than customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I have watched these stores close one by one, promising to one day re-open but that never happens. It’s sad because so many have lost their jobs,” a guard said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The mall is one many significant retail centres caught up in the strained and technically insolvent Nova Property Group, which is embroiled in multiple legal battles, including one staving off liquidation proceedings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The mall formed part of the Sharemax scheme in which South Africans invested around R543 million between 2008 and 2009. The scheme collapsed in 2010\/11, and Nova was left holding the assets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Developed by Capicol, construction on the centre started in November 2005, officially opening its doors in 2010 with a lettable area of 30,000 square metres.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sharemax bought the Zambezi Mall from Capicol for R930 million. However, fifteen years later, Nova lists its fair value at a questionable R540 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group has also given little to no communication about the state of the mall or plans for its future, and did not response to queries put forward about the current state of the centre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Zambezi Mall problems and plans<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Responding to previous queries from BusinessTech, Nova said that there is no communication on the mall or any of its other assets beyond what has already been delivered through communiques to shareholders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The last time the group made any mention of Zambezi Mall was in its 2024 financial statements, which were published earlier this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the group, disputes and litigation is ongoing with Capicol regarding money owed to it for the transfer of the mall, as well as damages claimed from Capicol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This amounts to R79 million, which it said has prescribed. The group is also embroiled in litigation with the City of Tshwane over unpaid rates from 2011 to February 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This amounts to R32 million which was recognised in its financial results as a contingent liability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The last communication it delivered on the future of the mall was in December 2023, where Nova flagged the ongoing litigation as the big hurdle stopping development plans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This included another round of litigation relating “gross mismanagement” under the head lease, which resulted in theft and vandalism at the mall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It said other parts of the building would be opened, and future services would be based on demand from any lessors. However, given the state of disrepair and infrastructure issues, interest has been lacking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is unlikely to be any injections from the Nova group, which is itself facing severe financial constraints.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the group’s annual financial statements ending 29 February 2024, it revealed a negative equity position of R90.3 million, making it technically insolvent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group listed assets worth R2.59 billion versus liabilities of R2.68 billion. The valuation of many of its assets, including the Zambezi Mall, have been contested by stakeholders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group has short-term liabilities of R323.5 million, while running a net loss of R46 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adding to its operational woes, at least two seervice providers to the group have applied for it to be liquidated, the latest coming in June 2025<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These processes have added to a growing pile of litigation being handled by the group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pictures of Zambezi Mall<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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The derelict Tshwane China Shopping Mall. Photo: Seth Thorne<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Parking lots at the Tshwane China Shopping Mall have turned into ponds. Photo: Seth Thorne<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The abandoned parking lots at the Tshwane China Shopping Mall<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The only working lights in the mall are by the lone open store.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Store closures are seen left, right, and centre at the Tshwane China Shopping Mall. Photo: Seth Thorne<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The Tshwane China Mall, formerly Zambezi Mall, in Pretoria continues to operate as a shell of a retail centre, where there are often more security guards on duty than customers passing through.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":832276,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872],"tags":[21444,21141],"class_list":["post-832282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-nova-property-group","tag-zambezi-mall"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/832282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=832282"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/832282\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":832402,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/832282\/revisions\/832402"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/832276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=832282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=832282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=832282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}