Major new shopping mall opening soon in South Africa

Etwatwa Crossing will open its doors in South Africa later this year, bringing formal retail to another previously underserved part of the country.

Jason McCormick, the CEO of McCormick Property Development (MPD), recently said that Etwatwa Crossing planned to open in 2026, and is fully let and well on track for its launch in August 2026.

The new mall is anchored by Shoprite and Boxer, and phase 1 spans 18,000 sqm, with a second phase already planned.

The mall is being developed by MPD in partnership with GMI and Longwalk Investment, with 70% of employment opportunities at Etwatwa Crossing for the local community.

GMI noted that Etwatwa is a township situated near Benoni, within the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality, and on the edge of Gauteng and Mpumalanga Province.

The mall is located on the eastern border of Etwatwa, at the corner of Modder Road & Chris Street. Etwatwa is also highly accessible and well-positioned to serve the local community.

GMI said that the 3, 5, and 7km drive-distance catchment from the proposed site was also used to guide the delineation of the catchment area.

The catchment was delineated as a 5 km localised catchment. That said, taking the whole of Etwatwa Extension 26 into consideration as well.

The centre plans to service 80,000 households in the catchment area. Outside of the Usave located in the south of Etwatwa and some spaza shops, there are currently no formal shopping centres within the catchment area.

Shoppers are forced to go to three shopping centres outside the catchment area in Daveyton and Mayfield.

There are three shopping centres outside the catchment area in Daveyton and Mayfield, with Mayfield Square being the largest.

Township retail rising

South Africa is starting to see a change in its shopping mall profile, with developers moving away from developed, urban areas.

Despite being a developing economy, South Africa has a massive number of shopping centres in its major cities.

With most urban areas already having access to formal retail, developers are now targeting previously underserved communities in rural or township settings.

MPD has been a massive developer in this space, having opened several malls over the last several years outside of established retail nodes.

McCormick said that his company has over 100,000 sqm of new GLA under development across three provinces, in addition to several refurbishments and expansions underway.

MPD, along with its JSE-listed Exemplar, which Jason McCormick is also the CEO of, is working on several malls on top of Etwatwa Crossing.

This includes Ntuzuma Mall in KwaZulu-Natal and the redevelopment of iTonka Square in Springs.