Township and rural shopping centres are emerging as far more than places to shop, bank or connect. As South Africa’s economy becomes increasingly digital, these centres are evolving into critical economic infrastructure, bringing technology, services and opportunity closer to communities. Their growing importance is also reflected in property performance.
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According to Absa’s 2025 MSCI South Africa Annual Real Estate Index, township and rural centres are extending their lead over suburban malls, delivering above-average returns and attracting significant capital. With the performance gap widening since 2022, the trend points to a fundamental shift in where retail property value – and opportunity – is being created.
The township economy is put at roughly R900bn, yet 49% of township entrepreneurs still work from a home or a garage, only 11% operate from commercial premises, and nearly 80% operate outside formal registration altogether. That scale of economic activity is exactly why township retail infrastructure matters so much, and why closing the digital inclusion gap within it matters just as much as the capital already flowing in.
More than retail space
As retail continues to evolve beyond simply providing products, the most successful shopping centres are those that offer a service mix that solves real customer needs.
Township and rural malls are no longer simply where people shop. For many communities, they are the only formal, serviced, secure and trusted space available; where residents bank, collect grants, buy data and devices, print documents and do their daily shopping under one roof. The tenant mix in these centres has quietly become a services mix, and the centres that have understood that shift are the ones outperforming the rest of the sector.
Investing in digital inclusion
Connectivity enables digital inclusion but doesn’t guarantee it. Connection has two halves, the network and the device. Property groups and retailers have already invested heavily in the first half, extending: fibre into communities, infrastructure into centres, footfall into stores. What is too often left for the consumer to solve is the second half of the equation; access to technology itself – a smartphone device.
For millions of economically active South Africans, limited credit histories and affordability constraints affect their ability to access these devices. Closing that gap requires collaboration across an ecosystem that includes technology companies, retailers, shopping centres and property owners, treating device access as a shared problem, not a line item each solves alone.
One operator working specifically in that gap is PayJoy, a global fintech, and public benefit organisation that serves more than 20 million customers across nine countries, including South Africa. Its purpose, according to PayJoy South Africa's country manager, Deon Verster, is "to remove barriers that prevent economically active consumers from accessing the technology they need, while giving them an opportunity to build a positive payment history that can help open the door to broader financial opportunities in the future."
Its smartphone rental model lets customers apply for a smartphone device, without relying on a traditional credit history, through mall-located PayJoy Kiosk or a participating retail partner store. This creates a mutually beneficial ecosystem: customers gain access to essential technology, retail partners increase handset sales, and shopping centres benefit from additional customer visits.
"The relationship between technology companies, retailers and property owners is built on shared value," says Verster. "It is an example of how commercial partnerships can deliver both economic and social value."
Access creates opportunity
Where economic opportunity becomes real: Digital inclusion is a defining economic challenge of our time, and this is where township infrastructure plays a critical role in letting commercial success and positive social impact reinforce one another. When a customer gains access to a smartphone, a retailer sells a device, a shopping centre benefits from increased activity, and that customer gains access to opportunities that may previously have been out of reach.
Real Estate Investment Trust, Fairvest Limited, frames the shift in terms of what a modern centre owes the community around it: “Innovative tenant partnerships are fundamental to creating accessible and sustainable retail centres. By working closely with our retailers, we drive consistent footfall, elevate the customer experience and create lasting value across our tenant base and the communities we serve.”
Rural and township retail specialists such as Exemplar Retail, believe in creating more than retail opportunities for their customers. They believe in creating experiences.
As a property developer, owner and manager, with a portfolio in excess of 750,000m², Exemplar makes a similar case for why this belongs in a leasing strategy rather than a corporate social investment budget: "Technology-led services that help consumers access essential products, while supporting other tenants, are exactly the kind of relevant reason for a visit that strengthens what shopping centres offer their communities."
From community hub to inclusion infrastructure: As South Africa's economy becomes more digital, advancing digital inclusion will depend on closer collaboration between technology companies, retailers, shopping centres and property owners - treating it as infrastructure, not an add-on.
Done well, that collaboration does more than serve those who are already connected: it gives consumers who have been locked out of formal credit a practical way to connect, transact and participate more fully in the economy their local mall already anchors. Township malls have already become community hubs; device access is what turns that role into genuine inclusion infrastructure - putting real economic opportunity within reach of the people who rely on it.
