NKRA Communique – May 2021

Hi everyone

The 3^rd Wave of the Covid-19 pandemic is getting really bad now, and we need to be even more cautious in our dealings with other people. The hospitals are reportedly almost full (depending on who you listen to), and this latest variant is apparently even more dangerous than the earlier variants we have had to deal with. Vaccinations are slowly becoming available to more people, but the injection does not give you immediate immunity, so please continue to exercise extreme caution after you have had the vaccination, for a few more weeks at least. From 1 July you can register to be vaccinated if you are over 50 years of age, you can register for your vaccination online, and you can get more details on this at https://sacoronavirus.co.za/evds/tscs/. We have heard that some medical aid funds are arranging vaccination centres, and that some DisChem stores are also providing the service.

In the meanwhile, please all continue to observe social distancing, please continue to wear your masks and sanitise your hands, and please continue to be very careful.

The next round of municipal elections will be held on 27 October 2021. If you have changed your address since the previous elections, you should check that you are properly registered. You can do this online, at the website https://www.elections.org.za/pw/Voter/My-ID-Information-Details.

In a previous communique we proposed to repair the steel palisade fence at the traffic circle in 4^th Avenue, which was seriously impacted by a car some time ago. The contractor who recently fixed the adjacent concrete palisade fence quoted us R4,427.50 to replace the damaged pillar and the one section of palisades that are buckled, and to straighten the other affected sections as needed. No member has objected to us fixing this very noticeable problem at this busy intersection, so if we do not receive any objections in the next few days, we will authorise the contractor to perform this repair. We need to avoid the perception that Killarney is suffering from urban decay.

The Johannesburg Roads Agency has fixed a lot of roads in Killarney recently, but they seem to have run out of steam – or money. We have heard stories about the City having frozen projects, and about sub-contractors not being paid. Unfortunately they have not yet remedied the fact that they accidentally tarred over two water valves in the intersection of 4^th Avenue and 3^rd Street.

Although the JRA did fix a lot of damaged roads, they have not yet done much in 1^st Street, 2^nd Street, or 5^th Street. We might leave these road repairs a while longer in the hopes that the JRA does return, but I feel the NKRA now needs to start with fixing dangerously uneven areas on the high-traffic and high-risk pavements, to at least make them fairly safe to walk on. For this round of repairs we will focus only on pavement problems that can be fixed with asphalt, and we will leave the more complicated brick-paving issues until the next round. Our list of pavements which need serious attention is currently as follows:

1. Riviera Road outside Beverley Heights
2. 1^st Street outside Killarney Gardens
3. 2^nd Street outside Gleneagles
4. 3^rd Street outside Brenthurst Court
5. 3^rd Street outside Sevenoaks
6. 4^th Avenue outside Cranwell Hall
7. 4^th Avenue outside Hampshire Mews
8. 4^th Avenue outside Chelston Hall
9. 4^th Avenue outside Hatherley Hall
10. 4^th Avenue outside the park gate
11. 2^nd Avenue outside Killarney Park
12. 4^th Avenue at the 7^th Street circle
13. 3^rd Avenue outside Castlerosse
14. 9^th Street opposite Knightsbridge

As you can see, there are many issues to be addressed. Examining them all and trying to get a range of accurate and comparable quotes is impractical. The plan is therefore to buy a “truckload” of asphalt, and to do as much repair-work as that amount of asphalt can cover. A truckload of asphalt, along with a team of workers for one day with their machinery, costs R13,000. Any asphalt left over at the end of the day will dry out overnight and be useless the next day, so we will need to work quickly and efficiently. I doubt that one truckload of asphalt will fix all our problems, so we will probably buy a second truckload as well – or even a third if needed. The members have already authorised R40,000 for this project, which should be enough. We have worked with this service provider before, and they were cheap and diligent. The work will be closely supervised.

Please would you let us know of any other serious pavement issues which need urgent attention, so that we can include them in this repair project? I think that some serious road potholes in low-traffic roads are unlikely to be addressed by the JRA anytime soon, so maybe we should look at patching those a bit too.

If you notice any municipal service-delivery issues at all, please report these problems to the municipality on 011 375 5555, and wait for them to give you a reference number. You can also use the following online approaches:

• CITY POWER – citypower.mobi  
• JOBURG WATER (sewage issues, burst pipes, leaking water meters etc) – Email them at customer@jwater.co.za 
• Johannesburg Roads Agency (potholes, reinstatements, storm water drains, manholes, pavement repairs) – Email them at hotline@jra.org.za 
• CITY PARKS (all municipal tree issues, park issues and pavement grass) – email them at trees@jhbcityparks.com or at jmoodley@jhbcityparks.com. 
• BILLING issues and for a new Pikitup Bin – email to regionErevenue@joburg.org.za

The problems with the illegal drinking parties and drug sales on our pavements have not yet been resolved. I have requested repeatedly for the dedicated SAPS sector patrol car to resume patrols in Killarney, but I am still waiting for a reply. Meanwhile the services of the police patrol cars can still be requested by calling SAPS Sergeant Mdlolo on 082 355 5646. Failing that, please call the 10111 SAPS emergency number.

We have been warned to watch out for car thieves who jam the remote-locking system of cars when they are parked, causing drivers to assume the car is locked when it is not. We are advised to triple-check that all the doors and windows are locked before walking away from the car. Here is a related news article: https://businesstech.co.za/news/business-opinion/496845/remote-jamming-on-the-rise-in-south-africa/

From 1 July 2021, bodies corporate will all be required to comply with the terms of the POPI Act, i.e. the Protection of Personal Information Act. You can access the Act here https://popia.co.za/.

This Act requires that an individual must be appointed as the Information Officer, and must then undertake a range of reviews and analyses, and produce policies and plans. We certainly don’t want to be saddled with the extra red tape required by this Act, but on the other hand, the managing agent does control a lot of personal information, including contact addresses and bank details, so it is actually good that managing agents themselves are required to comply.

There is already a process underway to lobby the Regulator to make the managing agent the Information Officer rather than a trustee, since the information sits largely with them, but this change will take months or even years. I have been told that the reason for not letting the managing agent be the Information Officer is precisely because the managing agent has all the information, and thus they require “oversight” from an independent higher “authority”.

I agree that the demands of this law are excessive for a body corporate, because the laws are designed for trading companies, but in reality a lot of the red tape is “Not Applicable” to a body corporate, and what is applicable is fairly manageable. In practice most of the compliance work is going to be done by the managing agent anyway, because they – and not the trustees – hold and use the information. The Information Officer basically has to ensure that the managing agent and the security company commit in writing to ensuring that they handle the information responsibly, and that they don’t thereafter break any confidentialities. Your managing agents should be able to supply you with templates, which you will probably need to customize slightly to your building’s individual circumstances.

Some people have expressed concern about the Information Officer potentially becoming liable for huge fines, but per Section 109 of the Act any administrative fine would be levied on the “responsible party”, which is the body corporate, NOT the individual Information Officer. In addition the Information Officer’s “contract” with the body corporate should indemnify them against any fine or penalty, and all bodies corporate can (and probably should) take out specific  insurance to cover against the consequences of such a privacy “failure”.

There have been questions about the impact which the POPI Act will have on the many security cameras, in that some of the cameras might record honest people walking or driving past, as well as criminals climbing over the wall. Section 11(1)(f) of the Act states that we are allowed to collect personal information if it is “necessary for pursuing” our “legitimate interests”. I imagine that protecting our buildings and residents against criminals is a legitimate interest, so while we wait for further clarity, we can just carry on as before.

We have for years been calling on the Killarney Mall to provide a taxi facility on their own premises. There is a municipal requirement for a Mall this size to provide a taxi facility on their own premises, and we have been told that the next time the Mall attempts to expand their development, they will be required to include a taxi facility as well. Recently the Mall submitted an application to have certain servitudes relaxed, in order to “facilitate future development” of their land. If and when the Mall attempts to secure permissions for further development, they will have to inform the community, and then the legal requirement for a taxi facility will come back into the spotlight. We are aware of our constitutional rights here, and we are keeping an eye on developments. Please would all residents help us here by watching out for notices on gates and fences?

We thank the Chartwell building for their excellent new flower-bed in 3^rd Street. These few simple plants make a world of difference to the immediate vicinity, especially being on such a busy road, and in particular the new paved edging makes the area look “not abandoned”. However we note that the pavement in 7^th Street is again looking a bit sad, along the highway side – would any building in that vicinity perhaps be prepared to do a basic weed-and-sweep job along there please?

30 buildings out of the 55 sectional title buildings in Killarney-Riviera have renewed their NKRA membership for 2021 – about 54% of the total. Many thanks indeed to all these buildings for your on-going support. The current list of the members for 2021 is as follows:

1. Beverly Heights
2. Brenthurst Court
3. Bretton Woods
4. Canterbury Close
5. Chartwell
6. Chelston Hall
7. Christina Court
8. Cranwell Hall
9. Daventry Court
10. Devon Place
11. Dumbarton Oaks
12. Gleneagles
13. Glenhof Gardens
14. Hampshire Mews
15. Hatherley Hall
16. Hyde Court
17. Interlaken
18. Killarney Court & Gardens
19. Killarney Hills
20. Killarney Park
21. Killarney Village
22. Kingsborough
23. La Camargue
24. Mentone Court
25. Monviso
26. Rapallo
27. Riviera Mansions
28. Santa Margherita
29. Sevenoaks
30. The Rivieras

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

Please would the NKRA members give us feedback on the suggested projects proposed above? If members don’t specifically object, then I will assume that you are happy to support all of these proposals. We also welcome all suggestions from all other residents, on all issues.

Keep well, and keep safe.

Wayne Ford