Pilane mall to be fully operational in February

Tefo Pheage | Tuesday December 20, 2016 15:29

PrimeTime managing director, Sandy Kelly revealed to Mmegi that there has been progress on the matter. “Our hope is that the mall will be fully operational in a month or two. We have been working on a resolution that will work for everyone,” he said without going into details. It is understood that the parties have agreed on a give-and-take agreement with the government and the citizens being the most favoured on the agreement.

Kgatleng District Council chairperson, Mpho Morolong told Mmegi that they are yet to get a response from the Ministry. “We have not yet received anything from them since our meeting with them,” he responded.

The mall, which is built in the heart of Kgatleng District and serves about eight villages of Bokaa, Morwa, Pilane, Mochudi, Rasesa, Mmathubudukwane, Sikwane and Malolwane stalled when some retailers were denied trading licences on the reserved business exemptions.

This move by the government angered Bakgatla and forced a high level meeting comprising Bogosi, Council, Land Board and District Commissioner to petition the government and request the Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry, Vincent Seretse to make a waiver on some of the provisions, particularly on the one calling on the SA retailers to buy local products. The barred retailers are Mr Price, Clicks, Jet, Beaver, Pep and Ackermans.

The delegation met the ministry officials two months ago where a discussion was held over the impasse. Bakgatla informed the ministry that the mall carries all their hopes and is highly likely to bring an end to their struggles. The delegation wanted the minister to exercise his powers, granted in the law, to exempt the SA retailers in the interest of the public. The government reserved certain trades of business activities for citizens or companies wholly-owned by citizens as yet another initiative on citizen economic empowerment.

A decision has been taken to suspend the granting of exemptions to non-citizen companies to expand and/or open new retail stores in the reserved business space. Multinational companies are therefore required to demonstrate meaningful participation or involvement of citizens in their businesses as a way of citizen economic empowerment before they could be granted the exemption.

The mall currently has about 28 tenants, amongst them First National Bank (FNB), Choppies Supermarket, Cashbuild, Puma petrol station, Barclays Bank, Knock-Out Cash ‘n Carry, OK Furniture and cell phone service providers.