Former South African president Nelson Mandela presided over the opening of the largest shopping centre in the southern hemisphere in Soweto, South Africa, last week. An excited crowd welcomed Mandela, 89, back to the Johannesburg township where he once lived.

The Maponya Mall covers 700,000 sq ft and houses 200 stores and an eight-screen cinema. It is the brainchild of Soweto businessman Richard Maponya, who said that the shopping centre had been his dream for the past 28 years.

The centre is expected to create 1,800 jobs for the impoverished town, which became famous during the country’s struggle against apartheid.

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