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 – February 2022

Hi everyone

The Covid-19 pandemic seems to be ending. The government is now allowing a relaxation on the wearing of masks outdoors, but the risk is not gone completely, so please continue to observe basic precautions – including in the common areas of residential buildings. You can get more information at https://www.gov.za/covid-19/.

The trenches that were dug across Riviera Road and 8th Avenue have finally been fixed, as have the pavements in Riviera. However trenches that were dug on our pavements in Killarney have still not been repaired. Please would all neighbours continue to log these issues regularly with the Council, and to remind them constantly that these are serious safety problems which require their urgent attention?

There is an app for reporting potholes, which seems to get results. Please can a lot of people download this app, and continually report every issue as often as possible? You can get the app at this link – https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.potholes.mobileapps.

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, but then we just need to keep sweeping it back in again until the JRA fixes the problem permanently.

On the bright side, I have noticed that the worst pothole in 2nd Avenue has recently been patched, and there seems to be some work happening with regard to the traffic lights at the intersection of Oxford Road and Riviera Road, so the Council is clearly still in business.

Also on the bright side, our park is looking better and better. The mowing of the grass has been erratic, because City Parks cannot mow wet grass, but it was finally cut again recently. The dogs are now running about as normal, but with all this wonderful rain, the grass will grow again quickly. The marigolds on the 4th Avenue pavement are starting to flower properly at last, and the hedge of canna-lilies is still looking strong. If any building has canna-lilies in colours other than red, please would you consider donating a few rhizomes, so that we can grow more of these hardy plants and expand the variety of colours in our park?

The large old tree which fell over at the corner of Anerley Road and 7th Street, has almost been removed. Hopefully they are planning to fix the fence as well. 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, the nearest street corners, your contact details and a photo of the tree in question.

The City of Johannesburg currently provides a Debt Rehabilitation Program to assist financially distressed ratepayers. For residential customers, the combined market value of all properties owned by the applicants must not exceed R1.5-million. Depending on the combined gross income of the account holder/s, a percentage of the debt will be written off on a sliding scale, provided that the various conditions are complied with in full. Once approved, the account must be kept up to date for twelve months from the initial write-off. The City also reserves the right to cancel the agreement and reinstate the original debt should it be discovered that the account holder provided false information to the City. This relief is seemingly not available to a body corporate, but the individual households within a body corporate can apply for relief on their individual municipal accounts if they qualify. You have until 30 June 2022 to apply, and you can get more information at https://www.joburg.org.za/services_/.

We have not yet had proper feedback from the Mall on our various suggestions for them to accommodate a taxi facility on their property. Our last feedback from them was to tell us that they are getting legal opinion on their legal liability first.

We have been informed by the chair of the Hillbrow Community Policing Forum that the JMPD is considering extending their city-wide street camera project to cover 1st Street in Killarney. They have not given a decision-date yet, so we continue to live in hope.

Meanwhile, please continue to report illegal street-drinking (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). Please call your security company as well. You can also contact the Killarney SAPS sector manager (Sergeant Mdlolo) on 082 355 5646.

I attach the financial report for the year 1 March 2021 to 28 February 2022. Among other things, we spent R68,000 last year on repairing potholes and pavements, and that was not enough money to fix everything that needed fixing. I hope that this year the Council will fix all the issues that are still outstanding, but if not, we may need to fix some of those issues ourselves again.

The invoices for the membership subscriptions for the 2022-2023 year have been sent out. Thus far, 18 buildings out of the 55 sectional title buildings in Killarney-Riviera have already paid their membership subscription to the NKRA – this is about 32% of the total. Many thanks indeed to these buildings for your on-going support. The current list of the members for 2022 is as follows:

  1. Biarritz
  2. Bretton Woods
  3. Canterbury Close
  4. Chartwell
  5. Christina Court
  6. Cranwell Hall
  7. Devon Place
  8. Hyde Court
  9. Interlaken
  10. Killarney Court & Gardens
  11. Killarney Hills
  12. Kingsborough
  13. Mentone Court
  14. Portofino
  15. Rapallo
  16. Riviera Mansions
  17. Sevenoaks
  18. The Rivieras

If your building does make a membership contribution, please ask your managing agent to include the reference number as well, so as to facilitate the allocation of the payment on our side.

Please would NKRA members give us feedback on the issues described above? We also welcome all suggestions from all residents, on all issues.

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

Wayne Ford