NKRA Communique – February 2025

Hi everyone

We held our February NKRA public meeting via the internet on Wednesday 19 February 2025. The key issues arising from that meeting are included in this newsletter. Our next NKRA public meeting will be held at 18h30 on Wednesday 19 March 2025. All residents and owners of Killarney and Riviera are welcome to participate. An agenda with a Microsoft Teams meeting link will be circulated in due course.

The long-awaited art gate has finally been installed in the 4^th Street Park, at the 4^th Avenue entrance. It was designed and sculpted by James Delaney, a well-known sculptor and painter, and a proud Killarney resident. James is justly famous for his revival of The Wilds, to which he has also contributed a number of sculptures.

A small function was held to “open” the gate, attended by our ward councillor, and Jenny Moodley, the general manager of Stakeholder and Public Relations at Johannesburg Parks and Zoo. A number of Killarney residents also attended, and enjoyed the occasion together.

The new gate matches the pedestrian gate into The Wilds on 10^th Street, which was also designed and sculpted by James Delaney, thereby linking the two green spaces of Killarney, and encouraging people to walk between them. The colour and subject matter of both gates are chosen to attract attention, and to welcome people. The eagle represents the wild bird life of our country, which is supported by these green spaces. The tall aloes represent the indigenous flora of South Africa, of which many examples have been planted in both parks by various community projects.

Delaney’s latest artistic contribution opens a new chapter in Killarney Park’s artistic journey. Years ago, we were fortunate to receive an artwork by Drew Lindsay, the Mosaic Master of Johannesburg. Drew decorated our drinking fountain with ceramic depictions of wild hadeda and lourie birds, both of which are frequent visitors to our park. Drew invented a new technique for this artwork, using his vast experience of the medium. Drew’s brief was to make the drinking fountain look like it was a hundred years old, to link with the centenary of Killarney, while the new Delaney gate is ultra-modern.

Today, Killarney Park is a cherished green oasis under the care of Johannesburg City Parks and Zoo. It serves as a peaceful retreat for residents, providing space for walks, picnics and general relaxation. There is an ablution block, which is about to be refurbished. In addition to art, trees and plants, the community has contributed a children’s playground, and Killarney Mall has installed fitness equipment for all to use. We have recently added a community vegetable garden, the produce from which is freely available for all to harvest and eat.

The repainting of the street names on kerbs has been completed, and inspections have been conducted on the work done. A few errors were noted, including on some signs in 7^th Street near the traffic circle. We have been told that all the intended mosaic street-name signs have been completed. A final detailed inspection must now be undertaken, and thereafter the contractor will be called back to resolve the various outstanding issues. Residents are asked to check all the signs near your homes, and to report any errors or other issues.

Recently a body corporate in Killarney accidentally drilled a borehole which penetrated into the Gautrain tunnel below. This caused very serious problems for the Gautrain, which had to halt operations on that section of the line between the Rosebank and Park stations, at great inconvenience to the Gautrain customers.

The Johannesburg municipal Department of Development Planning has since confirmed that the drilling of boreholes on private property is subject to government regulations. Before anybody can drill a borehole, you first need to obtain the following:

• You require written consent from the municipality, as per Section 14(1) of the city’s land use scheme (2018). This must include input from the city’s Engineering Department and Environmental Infrastructure Services Department (EISD), to confirm that the proposed borehole will not pose any threat to existing infrastructure.
• You must give the municipality 14 days written notice of your intention to drill a borehole, as per Section 41 of the city’s Public Health by-laws.
• Depending on how much water you intend to draw from the borehole, you may need to get a licence as per The National Water Act 36 of 1998.
• The borehole must be adequately covered to prevent injuries, and there must be a clearly visible sign indicating the presence of the borehole.

The proposed project to again repair excavations in the pavements and the streets, will need to wait until the municipality is finished with their current program of water pipe repairs. We do not want to do expensive pavement repairs, only to have Joburg Water dig it all up again to finish their own work. Meanwhile we are maintaining a database of problem areas, and we are constantly lobbying the municipality to fix things. Part of the delay is caused by their standard methodology of waiting for the replaced soil to be compacted, but the rain is undoing this process. The rain also washes some of the soil out of the holes, which leads to dangerously deep excavations.

It has been proposed that residents should top up any dangerous potholes with loose rubble and stones, so as to eliminate the immediate danger, and to allow cars to resume actually compacting the soil in the hole. If you have a dangerous pothole near your building, please would you top it up with loose rubble, to improve the road safety in the short term. However if it is a pipe repair, then assume that the open hole means that the repair work is not yet finished, and don’t backfill the hole just yet.

The community upliftment initiatives, including the “Themba Projects”, continue to add a lot of value. This project is funded by a monthly NKRA contribution, and additional voluntary donations from residents. We are hoping to expand the funds available to these projects through additional community fund-raising, including the use of debit-orders where possible. Themba Mhlope works for us in Killarney on Wednesdays and Saturdays. On the Wednesday he clears away rubbish from the pavement bins, and on the Saturday he does “upliftment projects”, such as clearing weeds and rubble, and backfilling potholes and excavations. We ask the residents please to suggest projects for Themba to undertake. If you are interested in helping with these upliftment projects, or if you would like to suggest a project, you can join in at: https://chat.whatsapp.com/KA4ejvnpF6pGjFg9SJ3KEn.

The streetlights are often not working, and those that are working are often obscured by the mature pavement trees. We are considering a project to improve the lighting on the pavements, for safety reasons. We have chosen to undertake pilot projects on the 4^th Avenue bridge, for the car-park in 7^th Street, and on the pavement of Riviera Road outside Daventry Court. Lighting the bridge requires a building to host the lights, but there are big trees near the bridge, so careful research is required. For the car-park we will need to ask the body corporate of the buildings across the road to allow us to put up lights and solar panels on their building. We have inspected the Riviera Road pavement, and it is heavily shadowed by trees, which block the streetlights and which will also block solar charging. This will also be a serious challenge. Alternately, we can instead focus on fixing up that pavement and making it smooth and safe for pedestrians to walk on at night. The easiest and cheapest method will be to rearrange all the remaining paving slabs into a narrow strip for pedestrians, and to let the rest of the pavement become grass or flower-beds, or gravel. Research is underway, and all suggestions are welcome please.

There is an on-going risk of cell-phone snatching on pavements, and pickpockets also operate on pavements, and in the Mall itself. We have asked the SAPS to increase their patrols of Killarney, but this is not under our control. We need to continue to remind our residents and visitors of the risk, and of the need to remain personally vigilant whenever they are outdoors.

In February, the patrolling tuktuk of our RCS-NKRA community security patrol intervened in an attempted robbery in 3^rd Street outside Park Avenue. An Uber vehicle stopped to drop off two people, and a grey Corolla stopped and three men jumped out. The guard in the tuktuk alerted the Uber which managed to speed off with the belongings of the passengers, and the passengers ran into the building. The criminals then drove away. No one was injured. Please all be very careful when out on the pavements – anything can happen. Our best defence is to be constantly alert to strange cars and strange behaviour.

Vision Tactical Security have patrol cars in Killarney, and they are willing to react to all reports of criminal activity. If you notice any suspicious behaviour, you can contact the Vision Tactical control room on 084 222 2222, or on 010 972 2600, or on 061 071 2001. The two Vision Tactical response vehicles are on 072 830 5305, and on 071 570 5173. We thank Vision Tactical for this community-minded service.

The Community Street Patrols continue to add value, although they are affected by the weather. They help a lot by maintaining a presence on the street, which does deter the illegal behaviour to an extent. We continue to encourage residents to join in where possible. You can contact the Patrollers at: https://chat.whatsapp.com/DsR92XsjIU49JLvv1pAHCI

Illegal hawkers, and illegal drinking on pavements, continues to be a challenge. We are constantly lobbying the JMPD at the CPF meetings. The SAPS also help us on occasion, so all affected residents must please keep reporting these issues. Photographs and videos help a lot. The new Mall Centre Manager has been approached to discuss our concerns about the effectiveness of their Mall Ambassadors out on the pavements, and he has undertaken to raise the need for further improvements with his service provider.

The NKRA Community Gardens pilot project has produced a good harvest. We thank our committed gardeners for their massive efforts. The gardening committee has done a great job on this pilot project, and they are now planning a winter garden. This will involve extending the existing beds, and it will require more compost. This proposed expenditure will be discussed at future meetings, once they know what support will be needed. They will also need additional volunteer labour, to help with weeding and watering. We also continue to encourage individual buildings to plant food gardens on their pavements. You can contact these wonderful neighbours at: https://chat.whatsapp.com/Cjh3eJl57pv1XcoQ7OEBj9

The Killarney Mall refurbishment progress is still in the planning stage. Unfortunately Natasha, the helpful and supportive Centre Manager, has resigned. The new Centre Manager is named Johan Weiss. He has explained his vision and his approach, and it all sounds very positive. However the major refurbishment project requires the approval (and lots of funding) from the owners, and this is still outstanding. We note that the Mall has recently done some repairs to their roof and ceilings, and some internal painting and fixing-up has also been done.

The older City Power mini-sub-stations use oil-filled transformers, and these need to be properly maintained. They also need to be protected from thieves and vandals. Many of these mini-sub-stations are located inside the garages of residential buildings, where they pose a potential fire hazard. Any building with a mini-sub-station inside their garage, should include this equipment in their routine fire protection inspections. It is also important to note that some solar systems use lithium-based batteries, and that these batteries require special fire extinguishers. Some inverter batteries are lithium-based as well.

The Joburg municipal fire-brigade is under serious pressure. It was noted that there are private fire-fighting services in Joburg. We aim to produce a list of telephone numbers for these various services, to be published. We therefore ask if any local residents know of such services, or are willing to recommend any such service please?

Some of the older pavement trees have started falling, and these do pose a threat. Please note that residents are not allowed to prune or remove municipal pavement trees. All we can do is report these issues to JCPZ, together with photographs if possible.

During the financial year which has just ended, 41 buildings out of the 55 sectional title buildings in Killarney-Riviera were paid-up members of the NKRA – this is about 74% of the total. The final list of the members for that year were as follows:

• Berkeley Square
• Beverley Heights
• Biarritz
• Brenthurst Court
• Bretton Woods
• Canterbury Close
• Castlerosse
• Chartwell
• Chelston Hall
• Christina Court
• Cranwell Hall
• Daventry Court
• Devon Place
• Dumbarton Oaks
• Earls Court
• Gleneagles
• Glenhof Gardens
• Greenhills
• Hampshire House
• Hampshire Mews
• Highbury
• Hyde Court
• Interlaken
• Killarney Court & Gardens
• Killarney Hills
• Killarney Park
• Killarney Village
• Killarney Wilds
• Knightsbridge
• La Camargue
• Mentone Court
• Monviso
• Park Avenue
• Rapallo
• Riviera Mansions
• Riviera Villas
• Santa Margherita
• Sevenoaks
• Sloan Square
• Splice
• St John’s Wood
• The Rivieras

Many thanks indeed to all these buildings for your on-going support, and also to the various people who make personal donations as well. We are grateful for this support, which enables us to undertake small projects for the benefit of us all. The invoices for the new financial year have been sent out to the various buildings, and a number of buildings have already paid their subscriptions for the year ahead. If your trustees have changed since last year, please would you let us have the contact details of the current trustees.

“Membership” of the NKRA is voluntary, but for residential buildings it requires an annual membership “subscription” of R50 per each unit in the building (with a maximum of R4,000 per building). In the case of businesses, we request a flat amount of R4,000 per annum. However all property owners, residents and employees of businesses in the suburbs of Killarney and Riviera are welcome to attend and participate in public meetings. You can contact us at wdford@global.co.za to be added to our mailing list.

The motto of the NKRA is “Safer, Cleaner, Better, Greener”. If you have any specific ideas and suggestions to help us implement this vision, please do share them urgently. Otherwise, our primary focuses for 2025 will continue to be as follows:

• Managing the squatter and hawker and taxi and street-drinking problems in Killarney;
• Reducing the various crime risks, including specifically the risk of pick-pockets and phone-snatching on the pavements, and improving the street-lighting;
• Building up a sustainable Community Street Patrol;
• Building up a sustainable Community Gardens Project to grow food;
• Undertaking community projects where possible, including cleaning and beautifying the pavements and other visible public spaces, expanding the existing Themba Projects by means of additional fundraising, and improving relationships with the trolley-recyclers.

We are happy to receive photos of interesting things that might be happening in our area, which we might include in future newsletters. We also welcome all inputs, on all issues. All interested persons can contact us at wdford@global.co.za to be added to the mailing list. Our website is at www.nkra.org.za.

Our next public meeting will be held at 18h30 on Wednesday 19 March 2025. All owners and residents of Killarney and Riviera are welcome to participate. An agenda with a Microsoft Teams meeting link will be circulated in due course.

Please would you share this newsletter with all your neighbours in Killarney-Riviera?

Keep well, and keep safe. J

.

City emergency hotline on 011 375 5911

If you get no response from the patrol van, please call 10111

Councillor Huggett – by SMS or WhatsApp – 071 785 8068

JMPD call centre hotline number – 080 872 3342

JMPD Control Room – 011 758 9620

JMPD number to report Homeless People camping in the vicinity – 011 490 1538

JMPD number to report Illegal Dumping – 011 490 1684

JMPD number to report Noise Pollution – 011 718 9684

JMPD number to report Illegal Advertising – 011 490 1547

JMPD number to report Illegal Trading – 011 490 1744

JMPD number to report other By-Law issues – 011 490 1684

To report a water leak: 24-hour hotline – 0860 562 874 or 011 688 1699