New Moz stores bulk up business for SA hauliers

SA ROAD hauliers will be
hauling more consumer
goods and perishables to
Mozambique as Maputo seeks
to reverse the tide of wellheeled
local buyers trekking to
Nelspruit to do their shopping.
SA retailers’ losses will be road
freight operators’ gains with a
greater number of shopping
options available for Maputo
consumers.
“We have a new shopping
mall opened downtown, added
to the shopping mall near the
Polana Hotel, and the speciality
shops and brand name outlets
are increasing in pace with
the building of luxury villas on
the oceanfront,” said Samito
Zucula, an importer/exporter
at Maputo harbour.
The Maputo Chamber of
Commerce envisions a time
when SA shoppers will come to
Maputo the way Mozambique
shoppers for a decade have
gone to Nelspruit, extending
the trips for a brief holiday by
the sea.
Success of Nelspruit’s
Riverside Mall and adjoining
shopping centres is based
in part on Mozambican
consumers, as acknowledged
by SA Revenue Service, which
has set up a VAT refund kiosk
at Riverside Mall to benefit
Moz shoppers. The high-speed
toll road connecting Nelspruit
with Maputo has expedited
traffic both ways.
Shoprite Checkers opened
its fifth Mozambican store last
week in the southern town
Matola. The SA supermarket
chain’s trucks servicing its
stores are familiar sights plying
Moz roads.