The NKRA is grateful for the support provided in the 4th Street park by our park sponsors RUSSELL FISHER PROPERTIES and VISION TACTICAL SECURITY and the KILLARNEY MALL, and for the street cleaning services provided by RCS SECURITY SERVICES.

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NKRA Communique – January 2022

Hi everyone

The Covid-19 pandemic seems to be fading again, and the booster vaccinations are now readily available as well. Hopefully we will be back to a semblance of normality soon. Meanwhile, please all continue to be careful, and to observe basic precautions – including in the common areas of residential buildings. You can get more information at https://www.gov.za/covid-19/.

Sadly, we recently lost a large old tree at the corner of Anerley Road and 7th Street, which fell during a storm. Even more sadly, it fell onto our fence, and did huge damage. Johannesburg City Parks is the entity responsible for clearing fallen trees and branches, and they have substantially chopped up and removed this tree, although a lot still remains to be done. Residents can report fallen trees and dangerous branches by email to trees@jhbcityparks.com. You can also escalate fallen trees to the emergency WhatsApp number of 082 803 0748. Please include the full address, street corners, your contact details and a photo of the tree in question.

The Executive Mayor of Johannesburg, Councillor Mpho Phalatse, has issued a detailed media statement. She is promising “real, meaningful change and a restoration of hope and dignity in the City”. Among other things, she is pledging the following:

  • To end poor roads, power outages and water outages.
  • To eliminate cable theft and to “free our City from the curse of the Eskom monopoly”.
  • To improve the maintenance of road infrastructure and traffic lights.
  • To improve By-Law enforcement, and to deploy an extra 500 JMPD officers on the City’s streets, focusing on business nodes.
  • To improve communications and public relations.
  • To launch a Partnership Portal, where partnerships can be formed with communities, businesses and civil society organisations who have an interest in working together to solve issues in their areas.

The municipality is actually making a bit more of an effort to clean up streets and fix potholes. They have done some valuable work in Killarney-Riviera already, and we hope they will do more.

We have discovered an app for reporting potholes, which really seems to work. Please can a lot of people download this app, and report every issue as many times as possible? You can get the app at this link – https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.potholes.mobileapps.

We have also been informed of another app called My Smart City. You can apparently use this platform to log issues, as well as to be notified of issues logged by other people, and to track progress on all these issues. You can download the app at https://mysmart.city/home/citizens.

We have reported many issues, and we have asked the ward councillor to pursue these matters as well. Meanwhile, if you have a dangerous pothole near your building, please would you help by filling it up as best you can with soil or suitable rubble? The rain will obviously wash out the soil, assisted by car tyres etc, but then we just need to sweep the soil back in again – and again and again and again – until the JRA gets around to fixing the problem properly.

Also on the bright side, our park is looking very verdant. The mowing of the grass has been erratic, because City Parks cannot mow wet grass, so when it rains on our designated day then they skip us out again. However they do get around to mowing our park from time to time. Our plants are flourishing, extra plants are being planted, and the red canna-lilies have been particularly good this season. Canna-lilies are very colourful, very hardy, and very easy to grow from pieces of their roots. If any building has canna-lilies in colours other than red, please would you perhaps consider donating a plant or two, as we can quickly grow them into a full display?

The 4th Avenue park pavement is starting to look really colourful too. Our park gardener, Nolicent Ntete, regularly clears the weeds on the park pavements and traffic islands too, and last week he cleared the weeds off the 4th Avenue Bridge as well. Many thanks to Nolicent, and to Pam Golding Properties for sponsoring this service.

With the cost of electricity soaring, in between all the power outages, we are all searching for alternatives. We know that a number of buildings have already installed roof-top solar systems to reduce dependency on the Eskom grid. If you have had good service and are happy to recommend your service provider, please would you provide us with their contact details, so that we can share this with all buildings?

A delegation of residents is working with the owner of the Killarney Mall to get the taxi rank moved onto the Mall’s premises. They are happy for us to give inputs, but they keep finding different reasons why they cannot accommodate the taxi rank on their premises. We have conducted a joint site meeting with them, after which we presented them with a range of options which would all be acceptable to the community. They are looking into our suggestions, but they have not yet responded.

We have presented our issues and problems in detail to the SAPS at the Community Policing Forum meeting. SAPS have told us that we do still have a dedicated community policing patrol car, but that we now share it with the Parktown Sector. The SAPS no longer have a cell-phone in each patrol car like before, so we need to call the emergency control-room at 10111. This will at least give us a reference number and leave a “paper trail”. The control room and patrol car are in radio contact. At that CPF meeting JMPD also promised to give Killarney some extra attention, and to send cars around more regularly.

Therefore, please continue to report illegal street-drinking parties (as well as any other “suspicious” behaviour) to the police on every occasion, on the SAPS emergency number 10111 (or 112 from your cell phone). The police don’t always respond, but sometimes they do, so it’s worth calling them. Please call your security company as well. You can also contact the Killarney SAPS sector manager (Sergeant Mdlolo) on 082 355 5646.

We have received some safety and security news from RCS Security. Apparently thieves are once again tailgating residents into the complex, neutralising the guards and then robbing people in the garage. However once inside the complex they now also roam around the building looking for open doors, and even sometimes knocking on doors. There have been some cases where they have claimed to be from City Power, and other municipal entities.

  • Never allow strangers to enter your home unless you have specifically called for them. A good security gate allows you to hold discussions with strangers in relative safety.
  • Install good quality safety locks on the doors and gates of your individual apartments, and lock your doors and gates during the day as well as at night.
  • Use opaque curtains or blinds on all windows and glass doors – partly to conceal your own movements from intruders, and partly to prevent intruders from seeing your possessions.
  • As always, remain alert, and keep in contact with your guards and your neighbours. Keep your cell phone charged, and a list of emergency numbers handy.
  • Use your common sense. If it feels wrong, it probably is, so lock the doors and call for help.

The invoices for the membership subscriptions for the 2022-2023 year will be sent out soon. We would be very grateful for your support once again. If your building has changed trustees since February last year, please would you let us have the new contact details?

Best wishes to all, keep well, and keep safe. J

Wayne Ford