A visionary, forward-thinking urban centre is rising – a place built with ingenuity, intelligent design, and future-ready planning at its core.
The construction of the 42 000 m² Leratong City shopping centre marks the first major milestone in the transformative Leratong Smart City development: a bold, next-generation cityscape that is reshaping the identity of Leratong.
From a once-barren stretch of land, the project has progressed at remarkable speed since its launch on 5 June 2025. Officially unveiled by Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi, Human Settlements MEC Tasneem Motara, Mogale City Executive Mayor Lucky Sele, and Trendville Managing Director John McCormick, the development is on track for the Leratong City Mall to open on 29 October 2026.
Drawing inspiration from the 2019 President Ramapahosa national Smart City pronouncement – which envisioned urban spaces powered by technology, efficiency, sustainability, and improved living standards – Smart City developments are purpose-built to counter persistent challenges such as unemployment, stagnant economic activity and social inequality. They offer a future-oriented response to the demands of the modern city.
Situated beside the long-standing Leratong Hospital built in the early 1970s and neighbouring the industrious Chamdor precinct, this multi-billion-rand investment stands as a beacon of innovative development. It is designed to stimulate inclusive growth, create employment, and introduce advanced digital infrastructure into the project, ensuring the benefits of progress are shared widely. With a strong commitment to community-centred development, the first phase is already delivering results in line with its smart, people-centred vision:
Latest Progress Highlights
- Twenty-eight local SMMEs have been appointed from surrounding wards, ensuring that economic opportunities are extensively distributed at grassroots level. Their roles span material and labour supply, brickwork, plastering, plant poison control, plant hire and more.
- An additional eight SMMEs have been contracted (but await commencement on site) with three more in active negotiation
- Local labour participation has increased, from 63% to 67%, now with a total of 330 locals employed forming a core part of the current 495-strong workforce
- Youth-led enterprises and young professionals have been integrated into various workstreams, affirming the municipality’s commitment to placing young people at the forefront of transformation and future-shaping industries
- Ten local food vendors have been appointed to operate on the site boundary to assist in feeding the work force, ensuring community businesses will thrive in this emerging economic hub
- Students across engineering, quantity surveying, and related fields have been placed on-site for hands-on training, equipping them with real-world experience in a complex, high-intelligence development environment
- A Project Steering Committee has also been established, mandated to provide oversight, champion community engagement, monitor compliance with urban development goals, and ensure transparent, equitable procurement – a smart governance mechanism supporting inclusive participation and community benefit.
This progressive development is engineered not only to draw significant private-sector investment but to generate ongoing enterprise opportunities and jobs through upcoming retail stores, food outlets, a mini-taxi rank, and connected mall offerings.
Beyond the mall, Leratong Smart City is envisioned as an integrated human settlements ecosystem – an intelligent urban district designed to stimulate local, regional, and provincial economic and infrastructure development. The mega-project includes approximately 15 000 housing units and public amenities such as schools, a private hospital, ECD centres, parks, transport nodes, and government service facilities.
With an investment value of R5 billion, it stands among the most substantial developments in Mogale City over the next decade.
Supporting this long-term vision, the municipality completed the strategic construction of a 5-million-litre water reservoir in Kagiso Extension 13 in 2024, located adjacent to the mall – a crucial infrastructure node ensuring reliable water supply for the broader Smart City development.
Although centred around the Leratong Hospital precinct and connecting Kagiso, Tshepisong, Azaadville, and neighbouring communities in Mogale City, the creative design of this development aims far beyond its immediate boundaries.
It is positioned to serve as a catalyst for urban regeneration across the West Rand, establishing a new economic nucleus and uplifting underdeveloped and underserved pockets of the city through strategic densification and formalisation.
This pioneering model driven by Mogale City not only aligns with national and provincial goals for integrated human settlements, spatial justice, and inclusive growth, but also illuminates a forward-thinking blueprint for transforming township and peri-urban areas through innovative infrastructure, effective public-private partnerships, and smart mixed-use urban design.