By Amogelang Mbatha | From Bloomberg News via Sandiego Source

The purple silk evening gown with glittering beads at the neck was perfect for the high-school prom. Kgatlhiso Molebaloa had never seen a finer fit.

Even better: She was buying it in Soweto, a historic symbol of blacks’ struggle against South Africa’s apartheid government.

“Being able to find a dress like this in Soweto makes it all the more meaningful because of the rich history,” said Molebaloa, 18, as she gazed at herself in the dressing-room mirror.

“Having malls that bring high-end stores to the townships helps in saving travel time and money, and also exposes us to the latest trends out there,” she said. “This place has some ‘va-va- voom’ because it’s in the township.”

The Maponya Mall is a five-minute drive from one of the starting points of the June 16, 1976, riots in which police killed at least 200 people.

It epitomizes the increasing gentrification of townships, with more than 200 stores, restaurants and health clubs, as well as a cinema offering the latest blockbusters.

Township economies can become an important driver of near-term growth, according to the World Bank’s Economics of South African Townships Study.

The country has about 2,200 townships on the outskirts of almost every city and town, a legacy of apartheid rule that designated separate residential areas for black people far from manicured suburbs inhabited by whites.

Owned by business tycoon Richard Maponya, the mall is one of more than seven shopping centers that have mushroomed in Soweto alone as retailers compete with small businesses to cash in on South Africa’s emerging black middle class.

Democratic rule

Townships have evolved as incomes almost tripled in 10 years.

So-called black-empowerment laws opened the way for more professional positions that had been reserved for whites.

Blacks also were granted access to better education and jobs after democratic rule started in 1994, when the African National Congress was voted into power under the leadership of Nelson Mandela, the country’s first black president.

Townships also benefited from a growing welfare system to fight poverty.

The number of township households with no income at all “fell sharply” to 1.6 percent by 2010, the World Bank report found.

Annual consumption per capita rose 12.5 percent in the townships to 18,419 rand ($1,644) in the five years ending in 2011, about the same as the increase for urban areas.

While wood and corrugated metal shanty settlements still project an image of abject poverty, growing consumer demand and upgraded housing have caught the attention of the biggest retailers, including Shoprite Holdings Ltd., Pick n Pay Stores Ltd. and Woolworths Holdings Ltd.

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