SHOCKING FRIED-DAY! When I was a ‘tenant’ of Old Marimba Park, Mufakose, in the late 1990s, High Glen was already one of the best ‘ring roads’ in the west of Harare – connecting the north and south.
What a beauty! And when Old Mutual Properties unveiled High Glen Mall, it was akin to ‘Sam Levy Village finally coming to the ghetto’. I mean, it was the place to be, bustling with a populace keen to spend money in a quality environment. For the first time, residents of Budiriro, Mufakose, Kambuzuma, Rugare, Glen Norah and Glenview did not have to rely on local ‘growth points’ for groceries, utensils and furniture. The city had finally come to their doorstep!
In fact Old Mutual Properties had always somewhat been a trend-setter when it came to shopping malls. The ‘green boys’ had previously flexed their real estate muscle in Chitungwiza, Westgate and the award winning Eastgate Mall in the CBD. Yet this is not what you encounter of them nowadays.
Today, I made a trip to High Glen Mall. It reminded me of 1800s ghost towns of the Wild West. What was once a bustling modern metropolis of mercantile chaos has now been reduced to a shell of silence. Worse still, long distance bus companies, car washes, beer gardens, service stations and tyre repair spazas are now the new order.
The few tenants who have braved harsh economic conditions and shifting consumer patters sit idly – miserably in the dark – hoping to catch a customer or two. Other than the ear-splitting hum of diesel generators, business is in the morgue.
What has gone wrong?
Unlike Westgate where big supermarkets still draw shoppers, High Glen’s supermarket sections are now but vast, empty white elephants. Surprisingly, Harare West’s Budiriro has not stopped expanding, with vast swathes of land occupied by thousands of new homes. Ordinarily that would have set High Glen Mall on mercantile fire.
My take – Old Mutual has to shift from their old real estate business model. They seem not to bother about aggressive promotion of their investments like emerging property developers. Besides, how reflective are their rentals of market low demand? Actually, having built those properties with clients’ monies, do they really care about returns? If they don’t get off their creative backsides, High Glen, just like Chitungwiza Town Centre and Westgate, will die.
Rejoice Ngwenya has profound and lasting interest in matters property and secure tenure, especially in Urban high density and rural areas.