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Leonard Ncube in Victoria Falls

THE $13 million Sawanga Shopping Mall in Victoria Falls is nearly 100 percent complete and ready for occupation with workmen doing final touches on construction work.

Construction started early last year as the Zimbabwe Reinsurance (Zimre) Property Investments invaded the resort town with a project that is set to change the face of tourism and investment in the Special Economic Zone (SEZ).

One of the mall’s biggest tenants, TM Pick n PAY on Tuesday closed its old shop in town in readiness to move to the new premises at the mall next week Wednesday.

The supermarket has started branding the new shop and preparing shelves among other logistics ahead of anticipated opening next Wednesday.

Masimba Construction built the mall, which will have 24 shops, a car park, restaurants, office space and a fuel service station.

A notice posted at the old TM Pick n Pay building read: “Dear customers, please note that your local TM supermarket will be closing. We look forward to seeing you at our brand new Pick n Pay supermarket at Sawanga Mall opening soon.”

Victoria Falls Municipality management visited the premises Tuesday to assess its readiness.

Town Clerk Mr Ronnie Dube said the local authority was upbeat that the mall would change fortunes in the resort town.

“This development will bring a new dimension to shoppers and opportunities in a spacious environment. This has been a long journey for everyone aimed at ensuring service delivery and our thrust is to promote investment in town hence we call on other supporting industries to follow suit,” he said.

However, Victoria Falls residents have vowed to block the opening of the mall citing alleged importation of labour especially at TM Pick n Pay.

The Victoria Falls Combined Residents Association (Vifacora) held some meetings with TM Pick n Pay management where an agreement was made that the shop should employ locals. Locals raised concern since last month saying a few locals got jobs when the shop advertised for new jobs as it sought to increase staff but went on to import labour mainly from Gweru and Harare.

Commenting on the matter, Town Clerk Mr Dube said: “We have been in constant touch with management at TM Pick n Pay and we emphasise that we don’t entertain importation of labour for ordinary jobs unless if we talk of skilled personnel.” 

Vifacora chair Mr Morgen Gaza Dube said what residents want is for the property owner to fulfill an agreement made through a Memorandum of Agreement (MoU) signed during the drafting of an Environmental Impact Assessment report last year.

The local authority backed by residents on one hand and Zimre on the other had agreed that the mall would be developed on condition that local residents benefit.

“We want Zimre to fulfill the promise they made when they came to introduce the project that they would create jobs for locals. That’s our mandate as leaders and TM Pick n Pay is their tenant hence they have to act on it. We had a meeting yesterday (Monday) with TM management to remind them about residents’ expectations. We told them to show us their recruitment schedule before they can open so it’s up to them to speed up the process.

“If they dare try to open with staff we don’t know they will likely cause public disorder, which we don’t want as Victoria Falls. So to avoid that they have to comply,” Mr Dube said.

TM Pick n Pay management could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Recently, Zimre managing director Mr Edison Muvingi said the project was driven by locals and would support locals in line with the ‘Zimbabwe is Open for Business’ mantra.

— @ncubeleon.