{"id":876358,"date":"2026-09-21T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-21T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=876358"},"modified":"2026-09-21T10:46:56","modified_gmt":"2026-09-21T08:46:56","slug":"major-shopping-mall-in-one-of-south-africas-worst-run-municipalities-get-sold","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/876358\/major-shopping-mall-in-one-of-south-africas-worst-run-municipalities-get-sold\/","title":{"rendered":"Shopping mall in one of South Africa’s worst-run municipalities is being sold"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The sale of Bloemfontein\u2019s Northridge Mall to Cape Town 101 Investments has been approved by the Competition Commission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Northridge Mall is located in the suburb of Bayswater in the northern parts of Bloemfontein, along the R700 on Kenneth Kuanda Road and currently spans 29,510 square metres.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is located in an area that connects the northern suburbs and the city to the N1 freeway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cape Town 101 Investments, the acquiring firm, is a property investment firm that provides retail space for rent in the Free State.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Northridge Mall was expanded and renovated by the Moolman Group and PHG Group in April 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On its website, Moolman Group said it partnered with PHG to bring residents of Northern Bloemfontein an extended and varied retail experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is a polished neighbourhood centre with a comprehensive convenience offering of all the favourites,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The mall has 86 stores in total, including well-known outlets such as Pick n Pay, Woolworths, Dis-Chem, Sportsman\u2019s Warehouse, Clicks, Yuppie Chef, Le Creuset, and a free-standing Virgin Active.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Northridge Mall also offers a variety of popular restaurants, including Wimpy, Mugg & Bean, Panarotti\u2019s, Milky Lane, and Salsa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The group said that once completed, the mall will span 58,000 square metres.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bloemfontein and its surrounds fall under the Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality, which has been increasingly criticised for its financial mismanagement and inadequate service delivery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA), Velenkosi Hlabisa, recently revealed that the Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality was listed among the worst-run municipalities in South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He revealed that 38 municipalities had been identified as distressed municipalities and were receiving structured support through the Municipal Performance Turnaround Strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese municipalities were identified based on governance, financial, institutional, and service-delivery challenges that require focused support,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Free State government placed Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality under provincial administration in 2019 due to the collapse of its financial health and service delivery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the attempt was unsuccessful, and in 2022, the national government intervened to take direct control of the municipality\u2019s operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2022, key triggers were identified as failures in the municipality, including an R1 billion deficit, rising irregular expenditure, and financial distress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The municipality was also criticised for persistent legislative non-compliance, institutional instability, and failure to implement a Financial Recovery Plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2026, President Cyril Ramaphosa authorised the Special Investigating Unit to investigate serious maladministration and corruption in the Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The worst-run municipalities in South Africa<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Municipality<\/strong><\/td>Date Instituted<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><\/thead>
Enoch Mgijima LM<\/td>April 2022<\/td><\/tr>
Amathole DM<\/td>January 2021<\/td><\/tr>
Makana LM<\/td>2019<\/td><\/tr>
OR Tambo DM<\/td>8 Dec 2021<\/td><\/tr>
Walter Sisulu LM<\/td>23 Feb 2022<\/td><\/tr>
Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality<\/strong><\/td>April 2022<\/td><\/tr>
Mafube LM<\/td>June 2022<\/td><\/tr>
Tokologo LM<\/td>June 2022<\/td><\/tr>
Kopanong LM<\/td>September 2023<\/td><\/tr>
Matjhabeng LM<\/td>October 2024<\/td><\/tr>
Nala LM<\/td>28 May 2025<\/td><\/tr>
Masilonyana LM<\/td>February 2026<\/td><\/tr>
Ngwathe LM<\/td>26 June 2026<\/td><\/tr>
Impendle LM<\/td>15 June 2026<\/td><\/tr>
Emfuleni LM<\/td>June 2018<\/td><\/tr>
Merafong LM<\/td>September 2022<\/td><\/tr>
Waterberg DM<\/td>December 2025<\/td><\/tr>
Emalahleni LM<\/td>October 2018<\/td><\/tr>
Govan Mbeki LM<\/td>October 2018<\/td><\/tr>
Msukaligwa LM<\/td>October 2018<\/td><\/tr>
Thaba Chweu LM<\/td>October 2018<\/td><\/tr>
Lekwa LM<\/td>April 2021<\/td><\/tr>
Phokwane LM<\/td>July 2020<\/td><\/tr>
Renosterberg LM<\/td>August 2020<\/td><\/tr>
Sol Plaatje LM<\/td>May 2026<\/td><\/tr>
Madibeng LM<\/td>January 2022<\/td><\/tr>
Tswaing LM<\/td>January 2022<\/td><\/tr>
Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati DM<\/td>January 2022<\/td><\/tr>
Kgetleng Rivier LM<\/td>January 2022<\/td><\/tr>
Ramotshere LM<\/td>January 2022<\/td><\/tr>
Naledi LM<\/td>January 2022<\/td><\/tr>
Ditsobotla LM<\/td>August 2025<\/td><\/tr>
Matlosana LM<\/td>August 2024<\/td><\/tr>
Beaufort West LM<\/td>August 2021<\/td><\/tr>
Kannaland LM<\/td>December 2023<\/td><\/tr>
Garden Route DM<\/td>October 2024<\/td><\/tr>
Theewaterskloof LM<\/td>November 2024<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Photos of Northridge Mall<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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\"\"<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Northridge Mall in Bloemfontein is being sold to Cape Town 101 Investments.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":876370,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"posted","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"2101944783262429283","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2211850909635308","_sma_instagram_post_id":"18351229732216154","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872],"tags":[21889,26583,21888,26582],"class_list":["post-876358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-bloemfontein","tag-cape-town-101-investments","tag-mangaung-metropolitan-municipality","tag-northridge-mall"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/876358","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\/127"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=876358"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/876358\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":876409,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/876358\/revisions\/876409"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/876370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=876358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=876358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=876358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}