MINUTES FOR THE MEETING OF THE 19th NOVEMBER 2025

MINUTES FOR THE MONTHLY GENERAL MEETING OF THE

NEW KILLARNEY-RIVIERA ASSOCIATION

HELD VIRTUALLY OVER THE INTERNET

ON WEDNESDAY 19 NOVEMBER 2025 at 18H30

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PRESENT: Wayne Ford (Killarney Village); Charles Whyte (Beverley Heights); Floh Thiele (La Camargue); Debbi Schultz (Bretton Woods); Amber Cheng (The Rivieras); Malik Dasoo (Mentone Court); Ismail Randeree (Killarney Park); Nadia Nikakhtar (Killarney Park); Lindi Metz (Killarney Park); Robyn Clarke (Killarney Park); Tracy Royal (Mediterranean); Trish Terry (Gleneagles); Nabeela Gangat (Sloane Square); Umayma.

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1. WELCOME

• Wayne chaired the meeting. He opened the meeting and welcomed the attendees.

2.  APOLOGIES RECEIVED

• Ian Morison (Killarney Park); Eleanor Huggett (Councillor Ward 73); Kim Robinson (Killarney Hills).

3. CONFIRMATION OF MINUTES, AND MATTERS ARISING

• The minutes of the previous meeting have been circulated to all attendees, and have been approved by them. The details thereof were incorporated into the monthly newsletter.

4.  STATUS OF OUR SUBURB, AND LIST OF ISSUES REQUIRING ACTION

• Pothole repairs –: we are still working to identify the process we need to follow to get municipal wayleave authorisation to fix our potholes ourselves. Cllr Huggett is arranging a meeting with the JRA, and it will happen hopefully next week. We have been told that only hot asphalt will be acceptable, which is what we have always used. The updated quote from our usual service provider is now R26,000 per truckload of hot asphalt, including labour and machinery etc. He has done work for JRA before, and he is collecting references from inside the JRA, to help us with our case.
• Floh will again try to get the Discovery Pothole Patrol to help us. They have a huge number of potholes to attend to all around Johannesburg, and they also have limited capacity, but they prioritise dangerous pot-holes. The pothole outside Engen in Riviera Road is life-threatening, especially to motor-cycles and scooters, due to its depth and position on a very busy road.
• The damaged valve at the intersection of 3^rd Street and 4^th Avenue is leaking badly again, and needs repair – this will continue to be reported to Joburg Water.
• Pavement repairs:
  • The remaining missing manhole covers will be replaced with concrete paving slabs, each one cut to size on a case-by-case basis. The quoted cost is R540 each, for unpainted slabs, and an extra R400 for it to be painted with yellow road-paint to improve visibility. It was resolved to proceed with this work, using only unpainted slabs, at R540 each. If necessary, we can do a future project to paint the slabs. The current number of manholes which have not yet been repaired by the municipality will need to be ascertained again, and is believed to be around 11 manholes. A message will be sent out on the WhatsApp to gather this updated information, and the work will start asap.
  • A lot of repair work has been done on the Riviera Road pavement between Oxford Road and 4^th Avenue, and the new paving pathway has nearly reached Oxford Road.
  • Unfortunately a serious new water leak occurred under the edge of that pavement near the Oxford Road intersection, in the driveway of Beverley Heights, and it damaged our recent repair work. In addition to wasting a huge amount of water, we lost a number of the new paving stones which were either damaged by the diggers, or were buried in the hole when it was backfilled. It was resolved to refund Charles with funds up to R9,000 to complete this pavement repair work. We will then commence planting ground covers along the pavement, initially using a few hundred cuttings grown by Ismail.
  • It was resolved to spend R1,000 to repair the displaced kerb-stones on the Riviera Road pavement outside Daventry Court, where the new water meter was installed.
  • The service from the municipality has been very poor, and in particular we are very disappointed with Joburg Water and JRA, who are destroying our roads and pavements with sloppy repairs, and poor reinstatements. It was agreed that Ward Councillor Huggett must be even more active in pursuing the poor service delivery on our behalf. We will arrange to meet with her, to understand if anything can be done to hold the municipality to account. We will request a date from her, as early as possible.
  • Two more water leaks have occurred under the 4^th Ave pavement outside Killarney Court. One of them has already been repaired, but Joburg Water has left us another huge hole on the pavement, which has not yet been backfilled.
  • It was suggested that we should send an invoice to Joburg Water each time to refund us for the work that we do to finish their repairs. However, it is understood that Joburg Water has insufficient budget and capacity to deal with the current maintenance requirements, and that this is likely to continue to be their defence.
  • The meeting considered quotes to repair the kerb-stones destroyed or displaced in the two pipe-repair excavations in 4^th Ave – a quoted cost of R18,200 for both. It was discussed to extend this project to address additional excavations as well – there are three more holes in 4^th Ave which are not yet ready to be repaired, but which will require attention shortly, and even more leaks have been noted. It was agreed to do additional research and to get further quotes before making a decision. These repairs will thus be held over until January. We will meanwhile do what we can, without further expenditure, to reduce the safety risks in these areas.
  • MTN fibre cable trenches –: this project was supposed to finish this weekend, but there is a lot of work still to be done, and the recent weather has also been disruptive.
• Community upliftment initiatives:
• A project was researched to repair the park benches. We have a quote of R15,800 to replace a number of damaged wooden planks and repaint the benches. We have another quote of R29,315 to replace all the wooden planks with everlasting plastic, which will not require painting again. It was agreed to do additional research and to get further quotes before making a decision. These repairs will thus be held over until January. Lindi will lead this project further.
• It was discussed to ask the chosen service provider to do one bench first as a test, but some contractors might not be open to this.
• The Killarney-Riviera Recycling Project has been launched, and a small group of buildings have joined the pilot project. This project can be accessed via their WhatsApp group.
• More pavement bins are required. To get more bins, we need to obtain sponsors willing to pay to advertise on these bins. We have advertised this opportunity, and we are currently engaging with Homesold Properties.
• Tree pruning in the 4^th Street park – JCPZ capacity will not be available for the foreseeable future. A large falling branch would be very dangerous, and it’s also possible that an entire tree could fall – perhaps over the fence into an adjacent building. We have asked JCPZ if we could assist them with this work, and they are open to our assistance. Our cheapest quote so far is for R35,700.
• It was also suggested to ask a contractor to prune the dangerous branches but not to remove and dump them, and this will hopefully save on costs and reduce the quote. We could then use the cut wood ourselves, perhaps grinding it up as mulch, or we might use it elsewhere, or we might pay Themba to dump it later if necessary. Ismail will research this option, and once he has confirmed the details, we will again approach JCPZ.
• Service-delivery issue-reporting templates –: These have been completed, as agreed, and have been made available to the residents.
• Community Policing Forum -: The November CPF meeting was postponed because police officers were engaged in G20 duties, but we expect to have a December meeting. Our usual street problems are continuing, and during the festive season it normally gets worse.
• Killarney Mall sale and refurbishment progress –: An upliftment of the library and the adjoining parking area is pending. The sale of the Mall has not yet been signed, but they are expecting a conclusion before Christmas. Thereafter the new owner will accelerate the planning of their refurbishment, and we can begin to engage with them.
• Other potential projects:
• A while ago an idea was proposed by some residents to create a new-look residents’ association, with a very different constitution and structure, to potentially replace the NKRA in the future.
• It was suggested to them that they should instead create a new entity that meets their personal preferences, and to see if it will actually succeed in Killarney-Riviera, in which case the NKRA members will vote on the NKRA being merged into the new entity.
• This group of residents is now proposing instead that it is easier to work together with the NKRA in our existing structure, that we should “let the past be past”, and that their new proposal is for the existing NKRA Constitution to just be given a “facelift”, so that it can be improved in places where appropriate. The new idea is to expand the number of people who provide support and who do work on various projects at various levels, including through creating more project teams and sub-committees.
• Ultimately the NKRA Constitution may be amended only by a resolution of a majority of the NKRA members.
• It was agreed that in the amended Constitution, all the decisions will still be taken in public meetings by the members, and that the ExCo will not be given power to make decisions, but will simply continue to provide support, as at present.
• All residents will be invited to offer suggestions, and a list of suggested amendments will be compiled and discussed. Debbi volunteered to create an appropriate WhatsApp system to facilitate this process.
• Thereafter the agreed list of proposed amendments will be presented to the NKRA member buildings, where they will vote on each of the individual proposed amendments. The NKRA Constitution will then be updated with those amendments that are approved.
• It was clarified that the NKRA has three office-bearers at present, who are all signatories on the bank account. The position for Secretary is currently vacant. This position has been used primarily for a person who would visit the non-member buildings to “sell” to them the benefits of NKRA membership. Jo Marais was very good in this role, and since her passing various volunteers have also made an effort, but nobody has volunteered to run with this as a permanent role.
• A composting system has been proposed for the 4^th Street Park. This idea will need more thought, and it will be addressed again in January.
• Community market -: This was intended to fundraise for the clean-up initiative. It will take time to research vendors and participants, and it is probably too late to do anything this year. This idea will be addressed again in January.
• Beehive in the Anerley park -: Beekeeping is quite dangerous, and is highly regulated. The constraints and potential liability will be substantial. It was agreed that this is not a good idea in a built-up area, and it will be taken off the agenda.
• New ideas for improving 1^st Street -: Around half of the buildings have gardens on their pavement or visible through a palisade fence, but in many places the 1^st Street pavements are visually unattractive. It was suggested to plant additional hardy flowers and shrubs wherever possible. It was also suggested that we should use plants that are endemic to the Witwatersrand, provided they are hardy and water-wise. Malik is knowledgeable on these matters, and will be asked to share a list of suitable plants on WhatsApp.
• The damaged wall of Martindale Mews, which has been patched over with corrugated iron for a number of years, continues to be a serious eyesore. This is easy to fix, but nothing can be done about this without co-operation from Dr Martin, the owner.

5.  NEW ISSUES

• There were no other issues beyond the agenda items.

The Meeting closed at 21:00

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Our next meeting will be held virtually on

WEDNESDAY 21 JANUARY 2026 AT 18H30

PLEASE PASS ON THESE MINUTES TO OTHER RESIDENTS IN YOUR BUILDINGS

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New Killarney-Riviera Association – www.nkra.org.za

Ward Councillor Eleanor Huggett – eleanorhuggett@gmail.com and 071 785 8068

Service Delivery Reporting Template – https://www.nkra.org.za/issue-reporting-templates/

Link to Community WhatsApp Group – https://www.nkra.org.za/whatsapp-link/