NKRA Communique – July 2026

Hi everyone

The most recent NKRA monthly general meeting was held via internet on 15 July 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 19 August 2026. All residents, owners and employees in Killarney and Riviera are welcome to participate. A formal agenda with a Microsoft Teams meeting link will be circulated in due course.

The Friends of the Library – Killarney

The Killarney public library is on the bottom level of the Killarney Mall’s Riviera Road parking structure, alongside the entrance to the banking area. The Friends of the Library in Killarney (FOLK) arranged and funded a mural at the entrance of the library, to make the entrance more visible, and to make the library more welcoming. This project has made a huge difference!

In addition, the Independent Examination Board (IEB) undertook a project at the Killarney Library for Mandela Day. They did some cleaning and some painting, helped to uplift the entrance corridor, put signage at the doorway and helped with sorting books. Please visit the library often, and help the Johannesburg municipality to understand that this library is a valuable asset in our community. You can interact with The Friends of the Library in Killarney (the FOLK) at https://chat.whatsapp.com/KrYlArsPHSRAiyoGHerC0s.

Pavement Repairs

The NKRA pavement repair projects continue, in the attempt to improve pedestrian safety in Killarney-Riviera. In the last few weeks, pavement repair work was done in 7^th Street at the corner of 3^rd Avenue, and in 7^th Street at the corner of 4^th Avenue. The team also backfilled the municipal excavations in 3^rd Avenue corner 9^th Street, and 3^rd Avenue corner 7^th Street. More work continued on the pavement of 3^rd Street, where City Power dug a long trench to restore a power cable, and never completed the repair. Here our team used the mounds of soil to fill the remaining holes, and they tried to compact the material to reduce future subsidence. We are still waiting for City Power to return and finish doing the reinstatement, but in the meanwhile the remaining soil will be removed and used elsewhere.

We held another meeting with the Thabo Mbeki Foundation, which is busy building the Thabo Mbeki Presidential Centre in North Avenue in Riviera. Present at the meeting was their project manager, and one of their lead engineers. They repeated their commitment to assist us with pavement repairs around Killarney-Riviera, at their expense.  These repairs have been delayed by recent changes in their management team, but things are now back on track. We have asked them to repair the tarred sections outside Hatherley Hall, Killarney Wilds, Gleneagles and Dukes Court, and in Main Road outside Riviera Mansions, because we struggle to repair large stretches of asphalt pavement without the proper equipment. A lot more work is needed on the pavements in Riviera which are being affected by construction, but we need to wait for the construction to finish first.

Community upliftment projects

A big cleanup was undertaken by volunteers on 11 July, on the pavement area alongside the motorway onramp of the M1N, near the intersection with Newtown Avenue. Some residents came to help, and they were assisted by Themba Mhlope and his team, along with some additional workers hired from RCS Security. The cleaners received security support from Vision Tactical Security. A skip was hired for the refuse, and PikiTup came the next day with a big truck to help remove extra bags of refuse.

Many problems were noted on the site. There was a lot of rubbish spilling onto the motorway onramp. The cleaners noted several squatters, and some shacks. They gathered photographic evidence of the squatting, as well as evidence of the extensive theft of power cables, a lot of drug needles, many cell phones and handbags and backpacks, and damage to a municipal water pipe. We have sent the SAPS a letter reporting what was found during the cleanup project, and we included some photographic evidence. SAPS has checked the site since then, and they found no further evidence of criminal activity, but there are still people living on the site. We continue to request SAPS to patrol this area, and also to do extra patrols in the rest of Killarney-Riviera as well.

We have again repaired the concrete palisade fence alongside Newtown Avenue. Muggers and phone-snatchers sometimes make their getaway through holes in this fence, so the main objective of this repair is to improve the safety and security for people walking in this road, as well as the safety of other motorists and residents in the area. Sealing the fence will also help to reduce the littering and dumping on the motorway embankment. The fence has been damaged over time by vandals, as well as in places by the municipal trees that grow on the embankment. These trees have now been pruned by the municipality.

The quote for this repair was R12,000, which was unanimously approved at the NKRA public meeting in July. We don’t know how long it will take before the fence is damaged again – the behaviour of vandals is unpredictable – but for now this area is much safer.

Many of the streetlights in Newtown Avenue have been vandalised, and the internal electrical wiring stolen. It has been proposed to install solar-powered streetlights on these municipal poles, but this requires municipal permission, which is not easy to get, and it comes with conditions. The Jozi My Jozi organisation has obtained municipal authorisation to replace some municipal streetlights with solar lights, and we have approached them to assist us with this. Their quoted cost is R14,000 per pole, which is beyond our current ability to afford. It was also noted that large trees could shield the solar panels and hinder charging, and trees could also block the light from reaching the ground.

A rock garden is being created by volunteers on the pavement of Newtown Avenue, near the Sanlam office building. A pile of suitable rocks have been donated by a building in Cyrildene. This project aims to uplift the vicinity, which is an entrance to Killarney, as well as to deter the reclaimers who litter on that site, and the homeless people who sometimes sleep on that site.

Municipal Repairs

The JRA have not done any more pothole repairs for us since our last meeting, although they continually promise that more repairs have been scheduled. They 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. Please would residents continue to report the 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.

After years of on-going reporting, the municipality finally has fixed the serious water leak in 4^th Avenue outside Bretton Woods. They replaced the damaged meter with a new meter, which now stands above the pavement surface, in the middle of the walkway. The adjacent sinkhole in 4^th Avenue has not yet been fixed. 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.

Safety and Security focuses

We are still researching options to combat phone-snatching and purse-snatching on our pavements. We again contacted CAP Security for an updated quote, and their service will now cost us between R200,000 to R250,000 per month – which we cannot afford. Meanwhile, we continue to ask 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.

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 has a WhatsApp tipoff line, at 078 221 0419, for reporting 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 Killarney Mall is now offering a Social Saturdays Market, which takes place in the open space outside Woolworths on the last Saturday of each month. Stalls are available for people to sell home-baked food products, unique handmade goods and artisanal products. There is some live music, and a free Kids Zone to keep small children entertained with free activities including Moms and Tots Yoga, face painting, a soft play area, and colouring?in stations.

The Themba Cleanup/Upliftment Projects

Themba Mhlope continues to do valuable work for us. In addition to removing rubbish, in the last few weeks this team has also been clearing out our stormwater drains. We are grateful for the 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.

Killarney-Riviera Recycling Pilot Project

To help the “trolley-reclaimers” sort out and recycle any recyclable materials in our domestic refuse, the Killarney-Riviera Recycling Project has been established in partnership with ARO (African Reclaimers Organisation). This pilot project is 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. Membership of the NKRA is voluntary, and this membership is renewed annually by the body corporate paying their membership “subscription”. The membership “subscription” is 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, but all property owners, residents and employees of the buildings and businesses in the suburbs of Killarney and Riviera are welcome to attend and participate in our public meetings. 

So far this year, 39 buildings out of the 55 sectional title buildings in Killarney-Riviera are paid-up members – this is about 71% 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
• 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 our area, 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 19 August 2026. All residents, owners and employees in 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 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/