A new shopping mall indicates Soweto's economy is booming

(27 Sep 2007)
Soweto - September 2007
1. Wide of sunrise
2. Mid of sun
3. Close up of sign
4. Wide of Soweto
5. Wide of construction site
6. Wide of street scene
7. Mid of people walking
8. Wide of market
9. Wide of cooling tower which used to supply of the electricity to the whole of Soweto
10. Wide of Soweto
11. Various of construction site
12. Close up of sign of Maponya Mall
13. Various of construction site
14. Set up
15. SOUNDBITE : (English) Richard Maponya, Entrepreneur
"At plus or minus, five million people living there. And I thought, look these people, they have contributed in making this beautiful city in what it looks like. And I thought they definitely deserve a better environment to live in. And they should have all kinds of facilities, such as what we see in the so called urban areas."
16. Cutaway
17. SOUNDBITE : (English) Richard Maponya, Entrepreneur
"I'm so grateful that Soweto is definitely booming today. We would like to see the money our people pull in, to circulate in Soweto seven or eight times, before it goes out of the area. And this will help to upgrade the area, and the quality of life of our people will definitely be better than ever before."
18. Various of construction site
19. Various of men working on interior of mall
20. Wide of another mall in Soweto called Protea Garden
21. Various of Protea Garden
22. Various of local shops
23. Woman at fruit stall
24. SOUNDBITE : (English) Doris Makhetha, A store owner in Soweto
"They've already made us suffer. Because now we find that the business we used to make before, is not what we are doing at the moment. Now we are just getting drips and drips of people coming from the Mosque, who are coming just to buy essentials like milk, sugar, in the evenings. During the day it's quiet, as you can see now."
25. Various of empty shop
26. SOUNDBITE : (English) Patrick Siswana, a store owner in Soweto
"I think that for the rest of six months, people will be going there. They will be interested in buying there, maybe what is there. We're very much affected. Other parts, as I feel, maybe it makes the richer more richer, the poor goes very poor."
27. Various of construction of Holiday Inn Soweto
28. Various of business summit
29. SOUNDBITE : (English) Goolam Ballim, Chief Economist at the Standard Bank
"I think that business can be made, and that if you kind of ignore, mainstream businesses kind of ignore Soweto, I would say they do it at their peril. So in sum, a few people are getting, I don't want to say wealthier, maybe not the optimal word, but poverty in the township is declining."
30. Setup Jason Ngobeni, Executive Director for Department of Economic Development
31. SOUNDBITE : (English) Jason Ngobeni, Executive Director for Department of Economic Development
"I think that government has realised that the people of Soweto have got a buying power. And most of that buying power has been directed to the suburban areas, the CBDs. And it only makes sense for the people of Soweto and business of Soweto to grow their local businesses."
32. Wide of traffic
33. Various of sunset
LEAD IN :
Soweto is the most populous black urban residential area in South Africa with about 1 million people, nearly a third of Johannesburg's total population.
The South African economy has seen growth in the last four years of 5 percent, the highest in 20 years.
And that means there is an emerging middle class in the township, best known for its links to the anti-apartheid movement.
STORYLINE:
Massive infrastructure projects have seen roads tarred and electricity installed.
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[@josephmatlou6895]

If we support and empower one another locally, we will definitely conquer poverty..