NKRA Communique – February 2024

Hi everyone

We held our February NKRA public meeting via the internet on Wednesday 21 February 2024. The key issues arising from that meeting are included in this newsletter. Our next NKRA public meeting will be held at 18h30 on Wednesday 20 March 2024. All owners and residents of Killarney and Riviera are welcome to join in. An agenda with a Microsoft Teams meeting link will be circulated closer to that date.

The park in 4^th Street is looking great. The rain is helping a lot, and the garden service provided by the Killarney Mall are doing a good job. Killarney Mall have also added an extra item of gym equipment to the outdoor gym in the park. Many thanks to them for that!

The Killarney Mall is planning to hold a family event in the park on or around the Easter weekend. This will include an Easter Egg Hunt, as well as a jumping castle, and an announcer with music etc. They will not be charging for access, and no liquor will be present. The event is aimed at local residents, and they do not expect to have a huge crowd attending. As usual they need to obtain permission from Joburg City Parks, and to do this the residents who border the park need to first be consulted. If any neighbours of the park have any objections to this community event, please do let us know urgently. If we get no objections then we will assume that everyone is happy to proceed with this event.

We are corresponding with the ward councillor to get her help with the various traffic safety issues in Oxford Road. We have also asked the principal of Saxonwold Primary School to add his weight to this request, particularly with regard to the safety of the many school children who cross Oxford Road at the intersection with Riviera Road. Saxonwold Primary School falls into a different ward to us, and will therefore be able to involve an additional ward councillor.

Another concern here is that frequently the traffic lights are not working at the intersection of Oxford Road and Riviera Road. This is a massive issue if it happens in rush hour, but it is also very dangerous at night. There is a related problem with “informal” traffic controllers at the intersection of Riviera Road and Oxford Road, as well as the intersection of Riviera Road and Main Road, where untrained people sometimes step in to help. The trained people are wonderful, but the untrained people could cause an accident, and they also risk being run over themselves.  Please proceed with caution when the traffic lights are out.

Squatters are still camping on the motorway embankment, and they are making fires for warmth and cooking. The police do intervene whenever dangerous activity is reported, but they are usually unable to relocate these squatters due to the on-going shortage of suitable alternative accommodation.

In addition there is now also a new group of people who sleep on 1^st Street on some evenings, around the area of the Mall and the illegal taxi rank. These are very possibly some of the trolley recycling people, who sometimes sleep out in Killarney to get themselves an early start and thus the best of the recyclable material. Residents are asked please to obtain film and photographic evidence, which usually prompts the police to act a bit faster. When you report these issues to JMPD, please always get a reference number.

The RCS security patrol in their tuk-tuk has been intervening and dispersing a lot of drinkers and loiterers on the street. In February the tuk-tuk patrol dispersed at least eight groups of people who were drinking and making a noise. They also called in the JMPD three times to address illegal drinking and loitering. The system is working well, but solving the problem will require a regular police presence. This RCS patrol service is paid for by specific buildings, so it spends most of its time patrolling around those participating buildings. Other buildings are welcome to join the project as well.

Security cameras need light. The law-breakers therefore congregate in the dark, shadowy areas. If buildings could each put up some LED floodlights to illuminate any dark areas around your building, then the security cameras would be far more effective, and the law-breakers would hopefully be deterred. The RCS security patrol (the tuk-tuk) has a camera on board, but it struggles at night like any other camera.

RCS Security have also advised us to trim the vegetation on our pavements, and particularly around the entrances, so as to eliminate hiding places for potential phone-snatchers or hi-jackers. Extra floodlights are very valuable, especially with a motion-sensor. It seems that delivery bikers who are delivering groceries and take-away meals are now a target of hijackers as well, both for any cash they may have received, and for the actual food and groceries.

The illegal hawking on pavements seems to be getting worse. It is hard to believe that a little stall selling a few cigarettes and chewing gums can support several people, so there is concern that some of these hawkers may be selling drugs as well. We therefore need to continually report these issues whenever we notice them, include photos with our reports when we can, and always get a reference number. The JMPD contact numbers are included at the end of this newsletter. Please all call them continually – they seem to prioritise their response based on how many complaints each issue receives. Please also encourage your neighbours to call JMPD as well, as often as needed. Security cameras observing these pavements would be very valuable indeed – if your building has cameras which cover a hawking problem-area, please would you let us know?

There is an on-going risk of cell-phones and bags being snatched on our pavements. We therefore continue to ask all buildings to constantly remind your residents and visitors to be careful of their belongings while they are out on the pavements. We used to have a standard printed sign for this purpose, which was sponsored by Pam Golding Properties, and which looked much neater than a printed paper page. Perhaps somebody would be willing to sponsor the relaunch of this project?

Since last month, there has not been much progress with street and pavement repairs, and the various dead trees. The NKRA trimmed the dead branch that was blocking the pavement in 4^th Avenue at the circle, but the dead tree itself is on the motorway embankment, and it needs to be removed by the municipality. There are other dead pavement trees around the suburb as well, which will pose a risk to buildings and people sooner or later. Once again, please all take photos or videos, send them to JRA, and get a reference number.

Some fallen trees are not actually dead. A jacaranda was broken by a storm a few years ago in 2^nd Avenue, on the Dukes Court pavement, and had to be cut down. However it is growing back nicely from the remaining stump. Similarly, a jacaranda in 5^th Street had to be cut down recently for safety reasons due to rotting roots, and it is also not completely dead, but is trying to carry on. Such trees deserve to be encouraged and protected.

Residents are asked pleased to recommend reliable quality service providers and contractors, to be added to our published database on our website. Our website is at www.nkra.org.za.

The project to substantially refurbish the Killarney Mall is still in the planning stage, and no final decisions have been taken yet. The issue of the illegal taxi rank, and its attendant problems, will thus persist for a while longer.

City Power has created a new Toll-Free Number for reporting and escalating issues. The Number is 0800 003 156, and the service is available from 6am to 6pm, Monday to Sunday.

If you need the ward councillor Eleanor Huggett to escalate an unresolved service-delivery issue for you, then please send her a WHATSAPP message on 071 785 8068. The message MUST include all of the following details:

• Your reference number;
• Your physical address;
• Your contact number;
• If it’s an electricity issue, then your account number;
• Details of the actual problem;
• The date on which the problem occurred.

Please also be reminded that the municipal officials who are responsible for service delivery, report to departmental executives and then to the mayor. These people alone have control over the resources and the priorities. The ward councillors have contacts with the various officials but are not permitted to order them to do anything. The role of the ward councillors is limited, by law, to communicating with officials, and then pleading for service delivery.

As we come to the end of a financial year, we thank all the buildings who have supported the NKRA in various ways, and in particular those buildings which were formal members of the NKRA and made financial contributions. The invoices for the new financial year will be sent out in March, and we hope that our many buildings will continue to support the NKRA in our uphill efforts to protect our suburb, our investment values and our quality of life.

We are happy to receive photos of interesting things that might be happening in our area, which we might include in future newsletters. We also welcome all suggestions, on all issues.

Please let us know if you have suggestions for future projects to be undertaken by the NKRA on behalf of the suburb. It has been suggested to once again repaint the street names on the kerb stones. We do not yet have enough money to do another project to repair potholes and pavements, but hopefully we will accumulate enough funds during the winter from the new member subscriptions.

At the moment, these are our primary focuses:

• Managing the squatter problem in Killarney;
• Finding a sponsor for a street cleaner for the 7^th Street car-park area and pavement;
• Continually warning people about crime risks, including specifically the risk of cell-phone snatching on the pavements;
• Making the neighbourhood safer by eliminating dark areas on pavements.

Our next public meeting will be held at 18h30 on Wednesday 20 March 2024.

Greetings to all, keep well, and keep safe. J

Wayne Ford

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City emergency hotline on 011 375 5911

SAPS patrol van – 071 675 6001

If you get no response from the patrol van, please call 10111

Councillor Huggett – by SMS or WhatsApp – 071 785 8068

JMPD call centre hotline number – 080 872 3342

JMPD Control Room – 011 758 9620

JMPD number to report Homeless People camping in the vicinity – 011 490 1538

JMPD number to report Illegal Dumping – 011 490 1684

JMPD number to report Noise Pollution – 011 718 9684

JMPD number to report Illegal Advertising – 011 490 1547

JMPD number to report Illegal Trading – 011 490 1744

JMPD number to report other By-Law issues – 011 490 1684