NKRA Communique – March 2026

Hi everyone

The March NKRA monthly general meeting was held virtually by internet on 18 March 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 15 April 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 Killarney Mall held their Community Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday 28 March. It was well attended, and was a big success. Activities again included the Easter Egg hunt, various games for children, several jumping castles, and the always-popular face painter. As part of this project, the Killarney Mall once again arranged and paid for the repair of the municipal ablution facility in the park. They also held a small community market inside the Mall, on the same day. Many thanks to the Killarney Mall for this enjoyable community event.

Pavement Repairs

Repairs have been undertaken along the south pavement of Riviera Road, from Oxford Road to 2^nd Avenue, and along 4^th Avenue from Riviera Road up to 3^rd Street. Some work has also been done in 2^nd Avenue. The projects to patch-up the kerbstones at the two sites on the 4^th Avenue pavement outside Bretton Woods, which were delayed while we waited for the municipality to repair a leaking water valve, have now been completed.  

These pavement repairs will be our main project until all our pavements are reasonably safe. If get permission to fix the potholes as well, we will expand the project accordingly. There is a lot of work still required in 4^th Avenue, which will continue as the weather permits. The sub-contractor who was doing the trenching for the MTN fibre cable project in 4^th Avenue, has finished doing what they intend to do. Although the pavement is still a mess in places, they have restored the area to what it was before they started. The NKRA will now finalise all required repairs on these pavements as well. We will also address repairs on the pavement in Newtown Avenue, in 2^nd Avenue, and in 10^th Street.

We are in discussions with the Thabo Mbeki Foundation, which is busy building the Thabo Mbeki Presidential Library in North Avenue in Riviera, and who have offered to assist us with pavement repairs. We have undertaken a detailed inspection of all our pavements, and we have a list of requirements and priorities.

Municipal Street Repairs

After months of patient reporting and requesting, Joburg Water finally responded and fixed the leaking valve in 3^rd Street, in the intersection with 4^th Avenue. In addition, the Johannesburg Roads Agency (JRA) finally undertook some street repairs in Killarney-Riviera. This included a major reinstatement of a dangerous hole in North Avenue, Riviera, which they excavated to repair a burst water pipe. The JRA also addressed some serious potholes in Newtown Avenue, corner 8^th Street. They completed a major reinstatement in Riviera Road, outside Engen. They also fixed a number of potholes in 2^nd Avenue, between Riviera Road and 3^rd Street.

A number of other potholes still wait to be addressed, as well as some reinstatements of water pipe repairs and gas pipe repairs. Please all continue to report the various potholes and excavations in the roads to the JRA at hotline@jra.org.za or at 0860 562 874, and please ask for a reference number every time.

Killarney Mall taxi rank and refurbishment progress

The new owners of the Killarney Mall are still busy with the final due diligence work, and meeting the various standard conditions, before they can take full control of the Mall. We do not yet have a due date for the long-awaited mall refurbishment project, which must include the creation of a taxi facility on the Mall’s premises.

Constitutional Amendment Proposal

A small group of people is proposing a “facelift” for the NKRA constitution. The constitution is working well, it is fully compliant with all the applicable laws, and it is not essential to change it. However, we are open to improving it further.

Ultimately, an amendment to the NKRA constitution can be made only by a resolution of a majority of the NKRA member buildings, where each member building has one vote. The final wording of the proposed amendments will ultimately be presented to all the NKRA member buildings, and each member building will need to decide upon their building’s position. The voting will be done using a physical ballot paper, so that confusion can be avoided, and a record can be retained. Member buildings may support some of the proposed amendments but not all of them, so each of the proposed amendments will be voted on individually.

Park Upliftment Projects

The mature jacaranda trees in the park need to be pruned, for safety reasons as well as to protect the trees themselves from storm damage. Johannesburg City Parks & Zoo (JCPZ) are willing to allow us to hire an outside contractor to do the work, at our own expense, provided the JCPZ are also present on the day to monitor and supervise the work. It was proposed to use the JCPZ woodchipper instead of carting away the debris, in order to save money and to generate useful mulch. However, the JCPZ woodchipper is out of action, and they cannot tell us when it will be back in service. This project is a safety issue, so extended delays are a problem. If a tree trunk or large branch breaks off in bad weather, it could harm people or damage buildings, and it might also possibly kill the tree. It was therefore resolved to proceed without the woodchipper, and to pay the tree feller extra to take the cut branches away.

The mural in the park at the food garden, has finally been completed. Many thanks to all who were involved in this initiative.

Safety and Security focuses

The risks of cell phones being snatched on pavements, and pick-pockets, are an on-going concern. We continue to ask all buildings to warn their residents and visitors not to stand or walk on the pavement with a phone or valuables in their hands.

At the Community Policing Forum (CPF) meetings, we are asking for a police kiosk to be set up at the taxi area in 1^st Street, staffed by uniformed SAPS or JMPD officers. A constant police presence would greatly deter the selling of drugs at this corner, as well as any other illegal activities and by-law contraventions. Private security guards have no authority on the street.

Our main issues require the attention of the JMPD, and the JMPD does not usually attend the CPF meetings. Councillor Huggett is following this up through the municipal channels.

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 Joburg has created a WhatsApp tipoff line, at 078 221 0419, for reporting all by-law contraventions, including noise and disturbances, drinking, illegal parking, littering etc. Reporting of by-law contraventions must be done while the problem is in progress – there is no value in reporting it days later, when the problem has disappeared. When you report you also need to send them full details of the problem, and the exact location.

In addition, our ward councillor Eleanor Huggett has offered to 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, you must 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.

Killarney Parkrun

The Killarney Country Club hosts a 5km parkrun every Saturday at 8:00am. For the details, please go to https://www.parkrun.co.za/killarneycountryclub/.

The Friends of the Library – Killarney

The Friends of the Library in Killarney (FOLK) held another book sale in March, to raise funds for the Killarney Library. This book sale raised around R35,000, including donations received. You can interact with the FOLK at https://chat.whatsapp.com/KrYlArsPHSRAiyoGHerC0s

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). ARO has provided us with green wheelie-bins in which we can accumulate all our recyclable materials, and ARO also undertakes to ensure that our area is left clean after they are done. You can interact with the Killarney-Riviera Recycling Project at https://chat.whatsapp.com/L1IlY4t9C837nVxp5oD8QW.

The Themba Cleanup/Upliftment Projects

The Themba Cleanup team continues to do regular cleaning and fixing around the area. You can interact with this team at: https://chat.whatsapp.com/KA4ejvnpF6pGjFg9SJ3KEn.

The Community Gardens project

The community food garden is doing well, and continues to expand. You can interact with this team at: https://chat.whatsapp.com/Cjh3eJl57pv1XcoQ7OEBj9.

The community street walks

The community evening street walks are continuing. You can interact with them at https://chat.whatsapp.com/CGOgiBZSRmhDNTq5BVdccU?mode=wwt.

NKRA Membership

The members of the NKRA are the buildings 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 member buildings can vote on resolutions, but all property owners, residents and employees of buildings and businesses in the suburbs of Killarney and Riviera are welcome to attend and participate in our public meetings. 

So far this year, 31 buildings out of the 55 sectional title buildings in Killarney-Riviera are paid-up members – this is about 56% of the total. The list of the members currently is as follows:

• Berkeley Square
• Beverley Heights
• Bolton Hall
• Brenthurst Court
• Castlerosse
• Christina Court
• Devon Place
• Dumbarton Oaks
• Earl’s Court
• Gleneagles
• Glenhof Court
• Greenhills
• Hampshire House
• Hampshire Mews
• Highbury
• Hillside Village
• Hyde Court
• Killarney Court and Gardens
• Killarney Hills
• Killarney Park
• Killarney Village
• Knightsbridge
• La Camargue
• Monviso
• Park Avenue
• Rapallo
• Riviera Mansions
• Riviera Villas
• Splice
• The Rivieras
• Whitehall Court

We thank all these bodies corporate for your on-going support, and we also thank all the various individual people who make personal donations as well. This funding enables us to undertake various projects, for the benefit of us all.

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 Killarney Library, the community walking groups, the Cleanup/Upliftment project, and the community Food Gardens project.

If you have any specific ideas and 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. You can find our website 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 15 April 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/