NKRA Communique – May 2026

Hi everyone

The most recent NKRA monthly general meeting was held via internet on 20 May 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 17 June 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.

Pavement Repairs

The NKRA pavement repair team has undertaken additional repairs on the pavements on both sides of 4^th Avenue, across the bridge and up to the circle at 7^th Street. We have also carried out repairs at various places along the northern pavement of Newtown Avenue, along the motorway. After we have finished in Newtown Road, we will attend to the pavement of Riviera Road between 2^nd Avenue and Killarney Avenue, outside Mentone Court.

These pavement repair projects are adding a lot of value to our neighbourhood. A previous NKRA general meeting resolved to initially allocate R5,000 per month of membership money to this project. Since then, we have built up our capacity, and with practice the workers involved have developed a degree of familiarity and skill. This work is focused on improving pedestrian safety, and to accelerate the work and improve the safety of the pavements as quickly as we can, the May NKRA general meeting resolved to increase the monthly funding allocation to R10,000 per month. When we do finally get municipal permission to fix the potholes in the roads as well, we will incorporate that work into this project, and we will revisit and expand our financial allocation.

The Thabo Mbeki Foundation, which is busy building the Thabo Mbeki Presidential Centre in North Avenue in Riviera, has committed to make their contractors available to assist with pavement repairs, at the Foundation’s expense. We are hoping they will start by repairing the tarred sections outside Hatherley Hall, Gleneagles and Dukes Court. If this doesn’t happen, then we will fix those pavements ourselves.

Trees on Pavements

The tree pruning project in the park is finished. We are now asking Johannesburg City Parks and Zoo (JCPZ) to attend to some of the dangerous trees on our pavements, including a tree in 5^th Street which has died but is still standing (for now), and a healthy tree in 3^rd Street which has grown at a severe angle over the road and has become seriously unbalanced. It may become necessary for us to attend to these dangerous trees ourselves, if we can once again get authorisation from JCPZ.

Municipal Repairs

The JRA have not done any more pothole repairs for us since our last meeting. However, they continually promise that more work has been scheduled, although they will not give us any implementation dates. They are still refusing to allow us to fix our roads ourselves, although we are still pushing them on this. Please would you 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. We also have the option to request assistance from the Discovery Pothole Patrol, who do have authorisation to fix municipal roads, but they focus their efforts on high-traffic roads.

The municipality has fixed some water leaks, but other serious leaks continue at the corner of Riviera Road and Oxford Road, on the Bretton Woods pavement in 4^th Avenue, and in various other places. Please would all residents help by regularly reporting water leaks on the Joburg Water Portal at https://customer.forcelink.net/joburg_water/login, and please share the reference number with us at https://chat.whatsapp.com/Kr3eNByVWIDFzmfO1FIlwp.

Some municipal trees on the motorway embankment are damaging the concrete security fence along the Newtown Avenue northern pavement. We are still waiting for the JRA to trim their trees, after which the NKRA will repair the fence. Precise costing will only be done once the trees are pruned and we know what work will be required, but these repairs will probably cost a few thousand rands.

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.

Constitutional Amendment Proposal

A small group of people had proposed a “facelift” for the NKRA constitution. The constitution is working well, it is fully compliant with all the applicable laws, and it is not necessary to change it. Ultimately, amendments 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.

Safety and Security focuses

Due to the increase in phone snatching on pavements, especially near the corner of 3^rd Street and 4^th Avenue, we are again researching the options for security cameras. We have received an estimate from Vumacam for R12,075 per month, but it requires a contract for 36 months, and this cost does not include a response car. Their system uses computer algorithms to detect “suspicious body language” by potential criminals, but this does not work for phone snatchers, who look perfectly innocent up until they snatch a phone, and then they are gone in a minute. We need something that is faster, and more responsive.

We are therefore considering installing our own PTZ security camera at Bretton Woods, to be monitored by the Bretton Woods security people and backed by a Vision Tactical response car. This will be similar to the existing NKRA security camera at Daventry Court, which has provided valuable service for many years.

It has also been suggested to position security guards at that corner, both as a deterrent as well as to chase after snatchers. To save costs, they might perhaps be hired for the weekends only. More research will need to be conducted on this option. Meanwhile, 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.

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 a WhatsApp tipoff line, at 078 221 0419, for reporting contraventions of by-laws, including noise and disturbances, drinking, illegal parking etc. Reporting of by-law contraventions must be done while the problem is in progress – it doesn’t help to report it days later, when the problem has 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.

The Themba Cleanup/Upliftment Projects

Themba continues to do valuable work. We welcome the donations made by various people to support this initiative. There is also an intention to hold another community clean-up day, in July, at the pavement area around the corner of Joe Slovo Drive and Newtown Avenue. 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). You can interact with the Killarney-Riviera Recycling Project at https://chat.whatsapp.com/L1IlY4t9C837nVxp5oD8QW.

The Friends of the Library – Killarney

Visit https://chat.whatsapp.com/KrYlArsPHSRAiyoGHerC0s to interact with The Friends of the Library in Killarney (FOLK), and to get details about their various events at the library.

The Community Gardens project

Visit https://chat.whatsapp.com/Cjh3eJl57pv1XcoQ7OEBj9 to interact with 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, 37 buildings out of the 55 sectional title buildings in Killarney-Riviera are paid-up members – this is about 67% of the total. The list of the members currently is as follows:

• Berkeley Square
• Beverley Heights
• Biarritz
• Bolton Hall
• Brenthurst Court
• Bretton Woods
• Castlerosse
• 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
• 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, 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 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. 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 17 June 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/