A Johannesburg mall that offers "a food, fitness and shopping experience" has delivered somewhat less - one of its restaurants was flooded with sewage just hours before its official opening.

Now, four years later, only five of The Core shopping centre's 25 shops in Sunninghill remain occupied, with some tenants claiming that they were duped into moving into the mall before a certificate of occupancy had been issued.

Alfie Rebelo, who took out a loan against his home and threw his life's savings into opening a restaurant in the mall, said he had been ruined. He signed a lease with RFC Development for a shop in 2006 after he was told that the development would include a gym, a string of restaurants, and shops that would service an office block above the mall. He was told that about 6000 people passed through the mall each day.

"That never transpired."