Friday, March 29, 2024

More lose jobs as Shops close at Manda Hill

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Hundreds are set to lose jobs in Lusaka as shops at the plush Manda Hill Shopping Mall have started shutting down due to a sharp hike in rentals and a slowdown in business.

Over the weekend, popular fast food joints Wimpy and Noodles shut their doors to customers and asked over 400 workers to go back home.

Already AllSports Manda Hill is closed and other stores are believed to be preparing to shut as they struggle to pay rentals.

One of the affected tenants Savva Christofis says he has remained with no option but to shut his four outlets because the management at the center has doubled the rentals.

He said the rentals have gone up to as much as K200,000 per month making it difficult for him to stay in business.

Some of the affected workers called on Government to intervene and force Manda Hill management to reduce the rentals before the situation worsens.

Manda Hill Centre Manager Joe Kaseka refused to comment on the matter.

Some business analysts fear that if the economic slowdown continues, shopping malls that have opened up in urban cities will slowly become white elephants.

Closed Wimpy Store at Manda Hill
Closed Wimpy Store at Manda Hill
A poster advertising rental spaces at Manda Hill
A poster advertising rental spaces at Manda Hill
A bill sheet showing how much some tenants at Manda Hill  are expected to pay
A bill sheet showing how much some tenants at Manda Hill are expected to pay
A Bill sheet for the month of May for a tenant at Manda  Hill
A Bill sheet for the month of May for a tenant at Manda Hill

37 COMMENTS

  1. This is what happens when the economy begins to collapse. There is no body with additional disposal income to buy the imported food. We really have to kick out Lungu and restore sound economic management to this country. Very unfortunate to those that have lost jobs. Please vote wisely

    • 200,000 per month as nothing to do with the current economy. its selfishness and a want to make it look like economy is worse than zimbabwe. cartel at work. dont forget its election year with hungry hyenas decked to take over governance of this country. they will stop at nothing!!!!

    • @Former UPND. These companies have not just come to Zambia. They have been there over a year some even more that and I doubt the rent just randomly increased. They were able to their bill before for over the year or years they have been in Zambia as more people had more disposal income to spend. Inflation is up, energy costs are up, wages are expected to go up etc leading to high cost of doing business. Therefore, someone managing the economy is not doing their job or incompetent. I think the latter for our president who doesn’t understand these things. I would fired Chikwanda a long time ago

    • Let them go. Other players will come on the market. The good thing is that companies like these are always replaced. We once had smart centre in Zambia they complained and closed their shops in similar fashion and they were replaced, other shops like Dunns, Ackerman,Bannets and Supreme furnishers did the same and were replaced and the shop that replaced them are doing fine. The problem with these shops is that they always want to hold the government to ransom.

  2. Comment:Its a sad story.To b a youth in this country is not easy.There are so many hurdles and moutains to climb.
    The only section of pipo that are not feeling the heat are thoz that are rubbing shoulders with the man at plot 1.

    • Father Jehovah God, overthrow the plans of troublemakers, snake charmers, tricksters, maniuplators, liers, corrupt thieves, scorners, scoffers, mockers and character assassins. Lord God, spear, persecute, wound, pursue, destroy and stop them in shame to fall in own counsels, brought to confusion and be as chaff driven by the wind, falling in the very destruction they have contrived for HH. Let them be caught in the same net that they set for HH falling in the very pit that they dug for HH and hung by the very noose they constructed for HH, burn in the very fire they have lit for HH and consumed by the very beasts they prepared for HH. Cause fear and terror to grip their hearts. Let them be confounded and troubled forever

    • who said HH is behind this you dunderhead!!!!!!!!! You have no brains!!!! People are not making money, if they don’t make money they can’t spend, if they can’t spend the shops will have no sales, if a shop has no sales it has to close down, if many shops close down then unfortunately you have to increase rentals to those shops that are still doing business in malls. Running a mall has many expenses so the owners of the mall have to cover their costs so that the whole mall does not close down! This is all due to a failed economy……….believe me there will be many more shops closing down and many more people will loose their jobs – look at Levy Mall !!!

  3. When a government boasts that we are building malls when the majority live in poverty. Where can they get money to go to these malls . When the government boards that they are building roads and yet goods and services are not passing on these roads .

  4. Then don’t even open the Edgar Chagwa Lungu fimofimo at Freedom park. I passed through Ndola last week. A few shops have shut or relocated at Jacaranda mall……

    • The first bill has a monthly total in red different from the handwritten 200,000. What is going on? Also, there are items on that bill that gives me the impression we are dealing with arrears here. Who has the rest of this story?

  5. Thats what happens when your economy is consumption based. when people stop consuming, you have no one to exploit and eventually you shut down. I hope this is not just the beginning of worse times to come

    • Now that companies are closing up and people are losing jobs in great multitudes, it is clear that God has not chosen ECL hence change is coming in August. Bible says when the visionless rule, the people suffer so God has abandoned Chagwa and he is on the way out. Another one has been anointed. I hope I have unlocked it for you sir.

  6. I see nothing wrong here, fail to pay rent, vacate and let others who can afford take over. People, it is called business, if you are not adept you will be left behind. Shopping malls will bring competition, as long as no cartels are allowed to hijack the process, commodity prices will come down. Landlords should be regulated and this is not politics it is just business. Tenants should also understand the Franchise business model before they take up these businesses. Economics 101.

  7. shame shame!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  8. God, I declare that every lying tongue is wrong and that truth prevails.

    Father Jehovah God, overthrow the plans of troublemakers, snake charmers, tricksters, maniuplators, liers, corrupt thieves, scorners, scoffers, mockers and character assassins. Lord God, spear, persecute, wound, pursue, destroy and stop them in shame to fall in own counsels, brought to confusion and be as chaff driven by the wind, falling in the very destruction they have contrived for HH. Let them be caught in the same net that they set for HH falling in the very pit that they dug for HH and hung by the very noose they constructed for HH, burn in the very fire they have lit for HH and consumed by the very beasts they prepared for HH. Cause fear and terror to grip their hearts. Let them be confounded and…

  9. “We already started some of the work and the process of engagement is ongoing,” Denny Kalyalya told a news conference.

    “Lusaka said last month it had agreed targets with the IMF, preparing the way for an aid programme by the fourth quarter of the year. It started talks with the Fund in March after both sides agreed the budget deficit unsustainable.”

    IMF austerity measures are coming! SAP and hard time ahead! Thanks LUNGU! Thanks PF! You have made sure we will suffer with your borrowing, corruption, incompetence and stealing!

  10. One of the clauses on land laws says that Land lords have the right to hike rentals or lower rentals to suit the economy, rentals can be hiked if there’s been an upgrade or renovation etc
    Some people abuse this clause.

  11. The amount on invoice is about ZMW 34,000.00, the handwritten figure & that of LT is ZMW 200,000.00. Which is which? How much was it before, how much is the provision in the lease agreement? However, rentals need to be regulated in Zambia. Most countries allow between 5 & 10% increase per year on both private & commercial properties & this has to be included in the lease agreement. What is upsetting is that the govt is just watching where businesses are increasing prices of goods & services at a higher rate than the inflation rate of about 22%. Some are increasing by as much as 1,000.00%. Are we protected by law? Months payment in advance also needs to be put to a stop people are paid monthly.

  12. I don’t think its just about the rent. When you construct expensive malls (some replicated from developed nations) in a poor country, laden with expensive imported goods, you shouldn’t be surprised that the poor buying power of many cannot meet the costs of running the same. How much available or spare cash do many Zambians have after meeting their own essential monthly expenses? Zambia is only a consumerist nation for the few that have gotten rich through one innocent, dodgy way or another. People see ‘flashing lights and flashing cars’ and forget that many are not acquainted with the same. Malls and more Malls for a country like Zambia are a bad priority.

  13. there is also so much competition in lusaka their at least 3 properly big sized malls going up in the city o no way people will pay 200k rentals when they have options…..I know some of this is effect of high inflation but

  14. does anyone know how much it costs on average to rent a small space along the corridors in any of these big malls?

  15. I am a kiwi , New Zealander. I visited and lived on and off in your country for a period of three years. First living in Woodlands Extention Then later shifted to the old Zambian unerversity apartments in Kublouger Roan Road. I visited the three main big malls in during my time in Lusaka but also many markets and small shops. I was quite suprised by the rapid growth of western style malls spring up knowing that in the west many are either struggling or closing down. Many public are over shopping malls.
    Online shopping is so much more convenient. I did wonder where the majority of Zambian public were going to get their spending power from to support these malls. People need good wages to have spending power and together good wages there has to be jobs and a good export balance…

  16. United you will stand and flurish as Zambians , devided you will fall.
    Allow common sense to prevail.
    Unity is strength.
    God bless the Zambian people and God bless Zambia.

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