PMBC welcomes reopening of Brookside Mall
Ithink one of the clearest images from the July riots, burnt forever in my memory, is seeing flames rising up out of the Brookside Mall – remembering it is still painful. Tomorrow, 16 000 of 17 500 square metres of our Brookside Mall will reopen to the public and the balance will be opened over the next few months.
To see it rebuilt even better than it was before is incredibly moving. I want to wholeheartedly welcome the reopening of Brookside Mall and the state-of-the-art Checkers Freshx – which we are very privileged to have in Pietermaritzburg.
There are only a few of these stores open in South Africa and ours rivals the ones in Sandton and at the V&A Waterfront. I want to applaud and thank the investors and Checkers for their courage and loyalty shown to our city.
Checkers was brilliant in preserving jobs. While the rebuild was undertaken, around 90% of the staff were redeployed to other branches. The remaining 10% have now been employed.
The Pietermaritzburg community needs these jobs and we are grateful for them. We need to honour this reinvestment and support those who have shown such faith in us and our city.
Melanie Veness, Pietermaritzburg and Midlands Chamber of Business
(PMCB) CEO