Young developer’s Malamulele mall stalls as rival project emerges

A young property developer’s dream of building the first major mall in Malamulele in Limpopo has become the centre of a bitter fight over land, power and alleged municipal manipulation, after his multimillion-rand project was stalled by an interdict while a rival development quietly emerged barely a kilometre away.

In November 2024, 30-year-old property developer Yinhla Maluleke, through his company Yinhla Property Development, purchased portions of land in a newly promulgated township and business district area, with a land sale agreement secured from the Collins Chabane municipality.

At the time of the sale, the property was appropriately zoned as Business 1 and the municipality subsequently issued a zoning certificate under the Collins Chabane land use management scheme.

This zoning certificate would grant Maluleke approval, consent, authorisation and/or a licence to develop shops and restaurants in a shopping mall. A site development plan was submitted to the council with the regulatory approvals granted by November 2025.

On the strength of the zoning certificate, the young property developer began engaging financiers, franchises and prospective retail partners to participate in the development.

Under the land sale agreement, Maluleke is expected to develop the property within three years, failing which the property will revert to the municipality without costs.

However, Maluleke’s development was brought to a halt because an individual, Jan Nkuna, alleged in court papers to be the brother of Masingita Group owner and property mogul Mike Nkuna, brought an interdict claiming the land belongs to him.

In Maluleke’s affidavit to the court, he explains that this litigation meant he could not register the transfer of the property. The court action, which Maluleke describes as frivolous, left him unable to take control of the land, unlock bank funding or proceed with construction despite having planned to break ground earlier this year.

He believes it was a deliberate stunt to squeeze him out of a municipal opportunity by a better-connected and influential player.

“What is deeply disappointing is that, instead of protecting an initiative it conceived, the municipality appears to be standing in the way of its own project.

“The Malamulele Business Park is the municipality’s initiative, and significant public money has already been invested in roads and other infrastructure because this area was identified as a growth point,” he told Sunday Times.

The straw that broke the camel’s back was the revelation that Maluleke’s idea had not just been stifled, it had been allegedly repackaged and pursued just one kilometre from his initial site.

During a bid to engage his proposed tenants, Maluleke found that some had terminated their leases, saying that he could not give them beneficial occupation on time.

“I told them we might have to push our opening date further because our construction is delayed. When I got there, one retailer told me about another development coming up, making use of the same name.”