NKRA Communique – August 2026

Hi everyone

The most recent NKRA monthly general meeting was held via internet on 19 August 2026. The key issues arising from that meeting are included in this newsletter. Our next NKRA monthly general meeting will be held at 18h30 on Wednesday 16 September 2026. All residents, owners and employees in Killarney and Riviera are welcome to attend. A formal agenda with a Microsoft Teams meeting link will be circulated in due course.

Now that the rains have resumed, we anticipate that the 4^th Street park will once again blossom. We are grateful to Killarney Mall for their on-going sponsorship of the gardening service which looks after the park. Nolicent Ntete, the NKRA park gardener, now has a formal job for five days per week, and he will only be working in the park on Saturdays. We have therefore agreed to retain Mthabisi Ncube, who has done work in the park before, to work in the park on Thursdays. He started from the beginning of September. Russell Fisher Properties are willing to continue to sponsor this project, and we are grateful to them for this support.

We are looking at ways to prevent the rain from washing mud into the playground sandpit. We will try to pave over the narrow mud-area with donated bricks, failing which we will dig out the mud and spread river-sand over the mud area. All ideas are welcome.

Fence repair along Newtown Avenue

The NKRA has repaired the concrete security fence along Newtown Avenue, by removing and replacing 16 damaged concrete pales. The main objective of this repair was to improve the safety and security for people walking or driving in the area. Sealing the fence will also help to reduce the littering and dumping on the motorway embankment. However, the municipal entities need to be able to access the embankment to perform cleaning and maintenance, so the final phase of the project will be to install a lockable gate into the damaged section of the fence in the corner of the 7^th Street car-park. This gate is important, and the idea has been approved by Joburg City Parks. This work will cost about R5,000, and it will utilise a City Parks steel gate which was removed from the 4^th Street park recently when an art-gate was installed. Dedicated donations have been requested, and donations of R1,000 have been received so far. The balance will need to be funded by the NKRA, and this will be voted on at the September public meeting of the NKRA.

Pavement Repairs

The NKRA pavement repair projects continue, in an on-going effort to improve pedestrian safety in Killarney-Riviera. Joburg Water finally replaced the damaged water meter in 4^th Ave outside Bretton Woods, but the new water meter is also leaking. Meanwhile, there is a lot of pedestrian traffic along that pavement, the entire width of the pavement is now blocked, and people are forced to walk in the street. Once that leak is resolved, we will need to urgently backfill and repave that area.

Charles and his team have recently paved further along on the 7^th Street pavement outside the Anerley Park, to link the Gautrain bus stop to 4^th Avenue. They also filled and compacted the trench that was dug along the 3^rd Street pavement by City Power, to improve safety.

Of the money which was allocated by the NKRA earlier in the year to undertake the pavement repair project, only about R6,000 remains. This is enough money to repair the paving in 4^th Avenue around the leaking water meter, and to backfill potholes with rubble a few more times, and perhaps to address a small problem area or two, but not much more. It is also probable that municipal entities will dig up other pavements during the remainder of the year, and that more work will be required in future to make our pavements safe again.

Our work was planned around the undertaking that the Thabo Mbeki Foundation would help us with the large-scale asphalt repairs, because we struggle to repair large stretches of asphalt pavement by hand and without the proper equipment. We have asked them to repair the tarred sections of pavement outside Hatherley Hall, Killarney Wilds, Gleneagles and Dukes Court, and in Main Road outside Riviera Mansions. If the Foundation undertakes these repairs as promised, then the NKRA pavement repair project has essentially been completed (apart from the 4^th Avenue water meter). Otherwise, we will be faced with an expensive additional pavement repair project. Our intention for now is to wait until the Foundation involvement is resolved, either way, and then to evaluate the situation and make fresh plans. This will hopefully be resolved soon.

We have had several meetings and discussions with the Thabo Mbeki Foundation, and they say that they are ready to start work. We hope they will commence soon, otherwise the NKRA will need to undertake this work ourselves.

Municipal Repairs

The Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA) are still refusing to allow us to fix our roads ourselves, although we continue to lodge requests to do repairs, and we have also offered to assist them with resources. JRA tell us that before they can resurface the excavations, Joburg Water and Egoli Gas etc must first confirm that the underlying problem has been completely fixed, but Joburg Water waits a long time to ensure that the pipe is not still leaking. JRA have also said that they are having problems with the asphalt factory, but once that is resolved, they will resume doing the repairs that are needed in Killarney. They have not given us any time frame.

Meanwhile, the NKRA continues to backfill potholes with sand and rubble, but the sand washes away quickly, so we will be adding temporary bricks to protect the sand. We are also still trying to find other ways and means to repair the roads, including via discussions with neighbouring suburbs. Please would residents continue to report the many potholes and excavations in the roads to the JRA at hotline@jra.org.za or at 0860 562 874, and please always ask for a reference number. Please attach photos with your reports, if possible.

Joburg Water did finally fix the serious water leak in 4^th Avenue outside Bretton Woods. The Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA) will now probably wait a while for the soil to dry out and compact properly, before they will resurface that excavation. The soil is subsiding as it is compressed, so we will try to add some rubble to the hole, to reduce the danger to road users.

There are still a number of other water leaks awaiting attention, and a number of excavations which require to be resurfaced. Please would residents help by reporting water leaks on the Joburg Water Portal at https://customer.forcelink.net/joburg_water/login, and please get reference numbers. Please attach photos with your reports, if possible.

Community upliftment projects

A pavement garden is being created by volunteers on the pavement of Newtown Avenue, to beautify this entrance to Killarney, and to deter the misuse of this space by reclaimers who litter on that site, and the homeless people who sometimes sleep on that site. All volunteers and contributions are welcome.

There is still a lot of graffiti around Killarney, which detracts from the appearance of the neighbourhood. Some of these cases can be cleaned with sandpaper, some cases will require repainting, and some cases will need to be sandblasted. We are looking at the various options, and the costs thereof. It is proposed to allocate a provisional amount of R7,000 to this project, and this will be voted on at the September public meeting of the NKRA.

Safety and Security focuses

We are still researching affordable options to combat phone-snatching and purse-snatching on our pavements. Meanwhile, the easiest route to safety is for all buildings to warn their residents and visitors not to stand on the pavement or walk in the street with a phone or valuables in their hands.

Homelessness and squatting are serious issues across all of Johannesburg. We have two small but established squatter areas in Killarney – one is alongside the motorway onramp between Newtown Avenue and Killarney Mall, and one is alongside the motorway onramp at Riviera Road, against the boundary of the golf course. Private security companies cannot legally move squatters off municipal land, only the municipality can do this, and then only if they offer the squatters alternative accommodation. However, the municipal shelters are full, and some squatters don’t want to go to the shelters because the shelters have rules, and drugs are prohibited. To minimise the risk of the problem getting worse, it was agreed that we should at least undertake a regular cleaning project of the squatting areas, maybe quarterly, using hired workers and security guards, and hopefully with support from PikiTup and JMPD. We have corresponded with the Killarney Country Club on this, and we will try to arrange a joint cleaning project with them.

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 061 071 2001, or on 010 972 2600. We thank Vision Tactical for this valuable community-minded service.

The City of Johannesburg maintains a WhatsApp tipoff line, at 078 221 0419, for reporting any contraventions of by-laws, including noise and disturbances, drinking, illegal parking etc. You need to report by-law contraventions while the problem is in progress – it doesn’t help to report it later when the problem has already disappeared. Please include full details of the problem, and the exact location. Photographic or video evidence is also very useful.

In addition, our ward councillor Eleanor Huggett can and will interface with JMPD on our behalf. Anybody who notes a by-law contravention can WhatsApp the details to Councillor Huggett at 071 785 8068. Once again, please include full details of the problem and the exact location of the problem, as well as also some photographic or video evidence to support your complaint if possible.

Killarney Mall taxi rank and refurbishment progress

The Killarney Mall continues to address the various suspensive conditions which are delaying the transfer of ownership to the new owners. They have told us that we should not expect to see much refurbishment progress until the end of the year.

The Themba Cleanup/Upliftment Projects

Themba Mhlope and his Cleanup team continue to do valuable work for us. The Cleanup team have recently also been cleaning the stormwater drains, and at the taxi area they removed more than 40 alcohol bottles from the drain. There is also a new man named Frans Masongane, who does extra cleanup work one day per week. We are grateful for the personal donations that are made by various people to support this valuable initiative. You can interact with this project team at: https://chat.whatsapp.com/KA4ejvnpF6pGjFg9SJ3KEn.

The Friends of the Library – Killarney

The Killarney public library is in the Killarney Mall, on the bottom level of the parking structure on the Riviera Road side, alongside the entrance to the banking area. There is now a large and highly-visible mural outside the library. You can interact with The Friends of the Library in Killarney (the FOLK) at https://chat.whatsapp.com/KrYlArsPHSRAiyoGHerC0s.

Killarney-Riviera Recycling Pilot Project

The Killarney-Riviera Recycling Project has been established in partnership with ARO (African Reclaimers Organisation), to help the “trolley-reclaimers” sort out and recycle any recyclable materials in our domestic refuse. This pilot project is still having some teething issues, and the ARO people are working to resolve them. You can interact with the pilot Killarney-Riviera Recycling Project at https://chat.whatsapp.com/L1IlY4t9C837nVxp5oD8QW.

The Community Gardens project

Visit https://chat.whatsapp.com/Cjh3eJl57pv1XcoQ7OEBj9 to interact with the people who are involved in the community food garden project.

The community street walks

Visit https://chat.whatsapp.com/CGOgiBZSRmhDNTq5BVdccU?mode=wwt for the details of the community evening street walks.

Killarney Parkrun

Visit  https://www.parkrun.co.za/killarneycountryclub/ for the details of the Killarney Country Club Parkrun.

NKRA Membership

The members of the NKRA are the bodies corporate of the area, and membership of the NKRA is voluntary. This membership is renewed every year by the body corporate paying their annual membership “subscription” of R50 per annum per each unit in the building (with a maximum charge of R4,000 per building). Only the representatives of the member bodies corporate can vote on resolutions, with one vote per building, but all property owners, residents and employees of the buildings and businesses in the suburbs of Killarney and Riviera are welcome to attend our public meetings. 

So far this year, 40 buildings out of the 55 sectional title buildings in Killarney-Riviera are paid-up members – this is about 72% of the total. The list of the members currently is as follows:

• Berkeley Square
• Beverley Heights
• Biarritz
• Bolton Hall
• Brenthurst Court
• Bretton Woods
• Castlerosse
• Chartwell
• Chelston Hall
• Christina Court
• Cranwell Hall
• Daventry Court
• Devon Place
• Dumbarton Oaks
• Earl’s Court
• Gleneagles
• Glenhof Gardens
• Greenhills
• Hampshire House
• Hampshire Mews
• Highbury
• Hillside Village
• Hyde Court
• Interlaken
• Killarney Court and Gardens
• Killarney Hills
• Killarney Park
• Killarney Village
• Knightsbridge
• La Camargue
• Mentone Court
• Monviso
• Park Avenue
• Rapallo
• Riviera Mansions
• Riviera Villas
• Splice
• St John’s Wood
• The Rivieras
• Whitehall Court

We thank all these bodies corporate for your on-going support, which enables us to undertake small upliftment projects around the area for the benefit of all owners and residents. We also thank all the buildings and individual residents who make additional donations to the various community projects as well.

The Vision of the NKRA is encapsulated in our motto: “Safer, Cleaner, Better, Greener”. In pursuit of these strategic objectives, we currently focus primarily on the following:

• Reducing the various crime risks on the streets;
• Undertaking various projects, including repairing municipal infrastructure where this is allowed, to make the area safer and to improve our quality of life;
• Reducing the squatter and hawker and taxi and street-drinking problems;
• Building up a sustainable recycling project;
• Supporting community projects such as the Cleanup/Upliftment project, the Killarney Library, the community food gardens project, and the community walking groups.

If you have any specific suggestions to help us implement this vision, please do share them. We welcome all inputs, on all issues. We are also happy to receive photographs of any interesting things that are happening in Killarney-Riviera, which we might include in future newsletters. If you wish to be added to the mailing list, to receive notices and agendas etc, please send an email to wdford@global.co.za. Our NKRA website is at www.nkra.org.za, our NKRA Facebook page is at www.facebook.com/groups/1915871842042728, and you can link to our Community WhatsApp Group at www.nkra.org.za/whatsapp-link/.

Our next NKRA monthly general meeting will be held at 18h30 on Wednesday 16 September 2026. All residents, owners and employees in Killarney and Riviera are welcome to attend. 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 and Riviera?

Keep well, and keep safe.

.

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

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

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

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