Iconic Eyethu Theatre Revival Opens To A Warm Community Welcome
Iconic Eyethu Theatre Revival Opens To A Warm Community Welcome. The iconic Eyethu Theatre in Soweto, home to one of the first black-owned cinemas in South Africa, has been revitalised and transformed into a contemporary community hub while preserving a local legacy that began in 1969 with the late Ephraim Batana Tshabalala and the Tshabalala family.
The Eyethu Theatre in Mofolo, Soweto, was built in 1969 and became a cultural and historical landmark in the heart of South Africa’s largest and most iconic township. The cinema was a fixture on the community landscape – a place for locals to come together and enjoy the latest movies, culture and entertainment.
The driving force behind the cinema was entrepreneur Ephraim Tshabalala. Born in 1910 in Vrede in the Free State to farmworkers from Eswatini, Tshabalala worked as a forklift driver on a farm, before heading to Sophiatown where he was employed by a bus service. With his enterprising spirit, he quit his job in 1946 with £20 in savings and began a meat business, which was a roaring success. Tshabalala went on to build a flourishing retail empire that included garages, bottle stores, fish and chips outlets, supermarkets and dry-cleaning depots.
Sadly, the once-bustling cinema closed in the 1990s with competition from multiplexes and streaming, and the building fell into disrepair. It has since been recognised as a significant heritage, cultural and social site. Some 30 years after the theatre shut its doors and, as result of a joint venture of the Tshabalala Family with Abland Property Developers, the leading real estate developer known for shaping the South African landscape for the better, the theatre has finally been reanimated and once again become a thriving hub for the people of Soweto.
The original cinema building has been restored and repurposed into a Heritage Hall that pays tribute to the late Ephraim Tshabalala and the history that is displayed in preserved artworks of the theatre. The Heritage Hall has been incorporated into a new shopping centre, and together they serve as a symbol of the community’s enduring resilience and determination, designed to inspire a new generation of culture and community.
