{"id":840965,"date":"2025-10-24T16:22:25","date_gmt":"2025-10-24T14:22:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=840965"},"modified":"2025-10-24T16:22:31","modified_gmt":"2025-10-24T14:22:31","slug":"major-36-year-old-regional-shopping-mall-in-south-africa-sold","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/property\/840965\/major-36-year-old-regional-shopping-mall-in-south-africa-sold\/","title":{"rendered":"Major 36-year-old regional shopping mall in South Africa sold"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Competition Commission has approved the sale of two shopping centres in South Africa: the 10,000 square metre E\u2019Mhluzi Mall in Mpumalanga, and the 42,000 square metre Chatsworth Centre in KwaZulu-Natal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The commission recommended that the Competition Tribunal approve both sales without conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In both cases, the proposed transactions are unlikely to substantially lessen or prevent competition in any market, nor do they raise any significant public interest concerns, the commission said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The larger of the two malls, the Chatsworth Centre, is one of the biggest shopping centres in the province<\/strong><\/a>, having opened in 1989.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The mall is currently owned by Sanlam Life, controlled by Sanlam Limited. The group has pumped millions of rands into the mall over the years, including a R140 million facelift and refurbishment between 2016 and 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These enhancements\u2014including entrance upgrades, paving, parkades, and storefronts\u2014kept the centre up to date with modern sensibilities and cemented it as a key destination for consumers in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The mall houses approximately 150 stores and is part of the Chatsworth CBD, is 15km from the Durban CBD, and reports over 1.1 million visitors a month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The mall is being sold to the Vukile Property Fund, a retail property-focused real estate investment trust (REIT) which owns a portfolio of properties in South Africa, Spain and Portugal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vukile is also involved in property asset management and owns a combination of retail and office properties as well as vacant land.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vukile owns several prominent retail centres across South Africa, including East Rand Mall, Randburg Square, and Mall of Mthatha.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Chatsworth Mall Pictures<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n

Mhluzi Mall<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The second mall approved for sale is the E\u2019Mhluzi Mall in Mhluzi (Middelburg), Mpumalanga. The retail centre is much smaller, at 10,000 square metres, but serves in a high-demand area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The mall is being sold to Bright Edge, which is ultimately controlled by family trusts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the commission, Bright Edge is engaged in the acquisition and disposal of properties and holds various retail properties in South Africa. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of relevance to the sale, the group owns retail properties in Mpumalanga.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The mall is currently is controlled by E\u2019Mhluzi Proprietary Limited, and is classified as a “neighbourhood centre” located at Ikageng Street, Mhluzi, Mpumalanga.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The mall was developed by Fontis Developments, which focuses on the development of retail shopping malls in rural areas. It opened in 2013.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mhluzi, which the mall services, was established in 1864 and became an important commercial, communications, and industrial centre for the region, and a key stopping point between Joburg and the ports of Durban.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Pictures of E\u2019Mhluzi Mall<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Competition Commission has approved the sale of two shopping centres in South Africa: the Mhluzi Mall in Mpumalanga, and the Chatsworth Centre in KwaZulu-Natal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":840972,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12755],"tags":[2880,6277,20473],"class_list":["post-840965","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-property","tag-sanlam","tag-shopping-mall","tag-vukile"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/840965","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=840965"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/840965\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":840979,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/840965\/revisions\/840979"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/840972"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=840965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=840965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=840965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}