Nkuna opens Malamulele Crossing

Property mogul Mike Masingita Nkuna, who has built malls in different parts of South Africa, says he is no longer working for himself and his family but is now working to uplift his community.

Nkuna officially launched his newest development, Malamulele Crossing, a fortnight ago. This will be a mall project that occupies 14 000 square metres and is expected to yield 600 permanent jobs. He said that he was now focusing on bringing major development projects in rural areas and that other malls were coming to the Greater Giyani Municipality, Makhado Municipality as well as the new municipality in Vhembe that covers some parts of Vuwani and Malamulele.

This former panelbeater says that he has achieved his dreams of having money, but now he thinks of creating jobs for rural people, so that they are able to drive the wolves from their doors. “When someone is from the village of Xitlhelani in Malamulele and grew up herding cattle, even if one ends up being successful, it is not easy to forget where you come from,” he said.

He was motivated to pursue property development after admiring two famous South Africans, the late Soweto civic leader Ephraim “Mshengu” Tshabalala and another tycoon, Richard Maponya. Mshengu is that civic leader who once had the desire to buy the whole Soweto. “Some people die before they realise their dreams, but I am lucky that I realised mine. My concern is that, after realising my dreams, I must now change the lives of other people," he said.

The Deputy Minister offor Tourism,  Ms Tokozile Xasa, hailed Nkuna for initiating massive developments in the rural areas. “The last time I came it was all smoke and fire as you were demanding a municipality, but now I see happy faces and there is no sign of smoke,” said Xasa, who urged the community to look after people's property.

Businessman Joe Mathebula, who attended the event yesterday, said he was happy with what Nkuna was doing for rural communities.

Dr Jan Nkuna, brother of  Mr Mike Nkuna, hailed his brother for not forgetting the rural communities where he came from. He referred to annual donations he makes to rural communities each December, where Nkuna donates food parcels to the destitute and the vulnerable.

Local civic leader in Malamulele Brian Maluleke said that it was commendable "when one of our own decides to invest at home and provide jobs to his people and that will also assist in developing the new municipality.”

Date:13 November 2015

By: Elmon Tshikhudo

Elmon Tshikhudo started off as a photographer. He developed an interest in writing and started submitting articles to local as well as national publications. He became part of the Limpopo Mirror family in 2005 and was a permanent part of the news team until 2019.

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