In 1986, Mariada Goosen and Beverley Gurwicz closed the streets and threw Melville a 90th birthday party. That was the first Mardi Gras. In October, the suburb turns 130. Women have held this place up the whole way, and nobody wrote it down till now. Welcome to Melville Untold, the newsletter that lets you know who to thank.

In this week’s newsletter,

— Aubrey Moloto, Caroline Koma

The Women Who Hold Melville Up

Melville doesn't run on vibes, its street festivals or great property prices.(for such a central location that is). It runs on a few people who show up every single day, and most of them are women. Imbokodo.

They own the buildings and the businesses. They chair the committees, keep the archives, run the markets, feed the feral cats, and put out fires, sometimes, literally. These ladies are the bedrock Melville sits on, and its future.

We definitely missed some but I gave it my best shot. So here they are. If we missed someone, please reply to this email and introduce us. Who’s Superwoman?

Nel Redelinghuys

Start with the woman who keeps the slips. The paramount archivist of the Ville, Ms Nel Redelinghuys.

Ms Nel taught for a lifetime, starting at our very own local Melpark primary and others around the city, high schools, and then at UJ. She spent much of that time in Soweto while the country was coming apart and trying to stitch itself back together. Whatever that classroom felt like, she stood in it and thrived. I've heard countless stories of lessons and values she still imparts, honed from her time as a lecturer there. And the most heartwarming success stories with children from the township.

Now writing Melville's history. Her life's work, and ongoing. She ran Melville tours through the 2000s, she's a leader at the Kruisg Kerk, and she's participated in more church bazaars than anybody can count. Ms Nel is our own personal source of truth when our research hits a dead end, and she’s never once asked for credit.

Cobi Meyer

If this list has a longest-serving member,  behind Ms Nel, it could be Cobi. She started out waiting tables at the Ant Café as a teen, went on to manage the place, has owned previous businesses, left, come back and is still here, on 7th street, almost three decades later. 

Founder of  Ziggy's Pet Pamporium which on paper is a pet shop. In practice it's where this neighbourhood's animal people found each other. If you've lost a dog, found a cat, needed a Taglinks, or just needed somebody to take the panic seriously, you've ended up at Ziggy's. 

She's also in charge of operation as an executive of the Melville Business Association, and if you’ve ever been a volunteer on any committee, that job is tough!. She runs the day-to-day, coordinating the efforts. She carries the messages nobody enjoys delivering, and takes the heat that comes back with them. She reports the outages. She chases the streetlights. She keeps a brave face on all of it because she loves this place tremendously..

Jovana Korać

If Cobi runs the day-to-day, Jovana Korać works the level above it.

She's served on the MRA, and was one of the people who helped bring the Melville Business Association back from the dead post-COVID. "Since the revival of the MBA via Jovana Korać," long-serving MRA board member Kelsey Glennon once told us, "it's been really great to have a more collaborative and informative relationship between the two entities, that helps us come to a positive resolution when things don't overlap."

What she's good at: property development, land use, zoning, licensing, the regulatory fights that decide what Melville is allowed to become. She thinks about the business landscape structurally, about what has to change for this place to thrive while staying recognisably itself. 

You saw all of it when Bambanani was going under. Jovana was in that fight from the start, right beside Caryn with Melanie. They built the Save Bambanani petition and the fundraiser. Melville signed. Bambanani is still standing, and Scala opened in the old cinema next door.

She was also instrumental in getting the festive lights back on 7th and 4th, putting up the I Love Melville sign, and working closely with the City’s Tourism departments to make sure Melville never gets left out!

Annemie Turk

Annemie Turk and her husband Elroy took Agterplaas over from the legendary Jannie du Toit, her brother-in-law, and turned it into the standard that many guesthouses will have hard time measuring themselves against.

She's straight as a ruler. She'll tell you precisely what she thinks, she won't mince her words, and she'll somehow do it without ever making you feel small. Immense compassion, and a tremendous business professional with a monumental background. Read issue 8 on Agterplaas for more.

Nokhutula Radebe

Nokhutula Radebe took Cuppa Cafe over from Ms Ellie who spent twenty-five years making it an institution. Nox kept it one, which is a hard job in modern Mellies in itself.

She receives you, seats and serves you herself. No hosts, no waiters. When we first visited she worked three tables in Afrikaans, isiZulu and Sesotho without breaking stride.

Main Road has been punishing to trade on. Shops have closed all around her. She's still there, directly opposite the Medi-Cross, catching people on their way out of the doctor's rooms and May's customers, which is why we called Cuppa a doctor for your heart.

"Cuppa Cafe is not for everyone," she told us, "but those that it is for, find their way here eventually."

Carmen van der Merwe

Carmen van der Merwe has been feeding this suburb from the corner of Rustenburg Road and 9th Street since 1999.

When COVID shut the doors, she didn't wait to be rescued and she didn't wait for charity. She crowdfunded for her staff, switched the whole model to prepared meals, and also got a generator in swiftly when load-shedding was at its peak. Carmen is such an inspiring business woman. Service Station passed twenty-five years not long ago. Given the last six years, that number should be read again, slowly.

Rosemary O'Shwaire

Rosemary has been trading for thirty-nine years, which is longer than most of Melville's restaurants have been alive.

She started on Rocky Street in Yeoville in the late 80s, moved as the city moved, spent a stretch at 27 Boxes, and finally landed on the corner of 7th Avenue and 9th Street at Milpark Heights, opposite the Bamboo. A tremendous human being with a pure soul and so much love for Mzansi and its diverse cultures.

Aimee May D'onofrio

Aimee May built Smoking Kills with the late, legendary Chris Pheipher into the place people in SA go when they feel like they don't fit anywhere else. Eccentric, alternative, marginalised, whoever the rest of the city has made feel unwanted. They walk in and find a tribe in SK.

She's still doing it. Last night, as this lands in your inbox, Smoking Kills was running a ThursGays event, with donations throughout the night going to the HRT Fund mutual aid pot for gender-affirming care.

She co-owns a bar that made the World's 50 Best Discovery list; she project-manages for Battalion Bars; and she consults internationally, all from a rum dive bar right in our kasi. Asked by In Your Pocket what makes the place work, she gave three words: "Community is culture."

Their own Women's Day post said the rest better than we're going to: "What would Smoking Kills be without the Femmes? Basically 1.5 bartenders."

Siwela Langeni

Sis' Siwela has spent years making the case for African literature, on radio, on SAFM, and from Book Circle Capital at 27 Boxes. Not the case for reading in the abstract. The case for African writers, on African shelves, in front of African readers.

This month she took the shop to the Johannesburg Stock Exchange for JSE SheInvest at Kyalami. On Monday she ran '76 INKED!, a one-day festival of South African women writers honouring anti-apartheid activist and author Sibongile Mkhabela on her 70th birthday.

Between Book Circle and Love Books, two shops within walking distance of each other, this suburb hosts some of the biggest book launches in Jozi, if not the country.

Caryn Cohen

Bambanani opened on 4th Avenue in 2008. For eighteen years it was the answer to a question this suburb doesn't always get asked kindly: is Melville child-friendly? If you had kids, you went to Bambanani. You didn't have to think about it.

You already know how close we came to losing it, because we covered it. What matters here is what Caryn Cohen did next.

She could have locked the doors and sold the buildings. "I was just going to close and see if I could sell the buildings," she told us.

Because of the petition, she kept going. She opened the front half of a ninety-seven-year-old cinema as an evening house instead. Candlelit, European bistro, Scala. Her reasoning wasn't a business plan, it was the community: "I've just opened the front half so that the corner is not dead in Melville."

The plan now is Bambanani in the day, Scala at night, and one day the theatre itself.

Wendy Carstens and Jenny Grice

Wendy Carstens gave a lifetime to the Melville Koppies alongside her incredible late husband, David. What the two of them did for conservation in this country deserves loads more than a paragraph in a newsletter. They will go down in history.

Jenny Grice chairs the committee now. A retired teacher, part of the Emmarentia Residents Association, and one of the most genuinely interested and open-minded humans you'll meet about this country and the people in it. Spend a hike with her, and you'll come down knowing less than you thought you did, in a good way!

The roll-call

Eleven isn't close to enough.

Kate Rogan built Love Books into one of the best bookshops in the country, hosting the country's biggest literary, academic and political figures, from William Kentridge and Lee-Anne Manners to Dan Corder, and plenty more, weekly. Full feature coming soon.

Aasha helped build Harissa into one of the most successful businesses on the strip alongside her brother, while running Refined Beauty and Aesthetics in Emmarentia at the same time, and when we asked her to come in as a Melville Art Mile community champ, she said yes before we'd finished asking. She's always looking for ways for their business to help foster community.

Geraldine Fenn, Tinsel Gallery, turned twenty in May and is still the only contemporary jewellery gallery on the African continent. We're still coming with that feature soon. So we can find out more about G as well.

Kathy founded the Melville Artisanal Market and worries about every single trader in it. The mother of that community, and advisor to the Market leader KG.

Muffy Gilmore has done more for this suburb than we'll probably ever know, in decades of selling homes. She's been part of the MRA, has run and been part of many community initiatives, and is now in the M130 organising committee.

Nicky Rofail has owned property, businesses and a large share of Melville's institutional memory for decades. She now runs Mi-Pi Chi and chiesa di PAZZO LUPi. Nicky is a fabric of the Melville thread. She'd never admit it to your face, but she deeply cares about this suburb and has fought and won silent, unrewarding battles for Melville for decades.

Tania Ikedji brought us Artüro Tequila and Sánguche. One of the standout success stories of the post-COVID 7th Street businesses, and a beacon of hope when the community was bleak, and the feeling was that the strip would never return. Tania and Artüro have led the charge to revive Melville by example, with the highest quality food, eclectic socials and events, and have fostered a sanctuary for the Afro-Latin diaspora.

Melissa Thorne and Estelle Lotter helped raise the Art Mile's standard at the moment it needed it most. I was struggling, winter was coming, and these two experienced professionals stepped in, executed relentlessly, and gave me the chance to catch a breath and come back with renewed vigour. I'm learning tons from working closely with them and I feel very lucky to call them my partners in the Melville Art Mile. Melissa also sits on The Happening organising committee, ran the pre-Happening community clean-up alongside Cobi, and ran IKO at 27 Boxes. Thirty-eight years in film and logistics, and she's spent a good few of them quietly making this suburb work.

Abby went from cooking in her own kitchen to opening The Green Fork on 7th Street without a wobble. Their first ever restaurant is becoming a standout feature of the street in such a short time, and they've folded into the Melville community like they were always here.

Charlene held Coco steady when half the strip thought they wouldn't last, at the worst possible time to open a business on 7th Street, just after COVID. They have remained steadfast in their mission, run their ship tight, and have played a solid role in the resurgence. Charlene and Vinny are extremely good people.

Coco – Rosie Parade is one of the most skilled and high-agency humans on planet earth. A trained sound engineer, DJ and event organiser, turned bartender, and most recently bar manager. Coco is bringing the real Ratz back. Coming up at SK, and working closely under Aimee in her early service days, they share a passion for inclusivity but have their own unique approaches to fostering it.

Lynn Grobbelaar, owner of The Trov, turned disjointed businesses at Milpark Heights into something that feels like a community. A formidable businesswoman in her own right, whose passion for Melville is glaringly evident. I've had so many meaningful conversations with her and most are about how we can improve our community.

The intensely compassionate Kate Bellingden of the ICare Senior Care programme, and founder of Food Circles 108, a food sovereignty initiative, keeps asking the questions the rest of us are too afraid to ask, or never stop and think about. She's a proper divergent thinker. Talking to Kate makes me appreciate the universe for more than just my own gains.

Kate Shand runs Melville Mudroom with her sister Nina. An underrated partnership at the bottom of Main Road that's quietly running one of the most highly rated pottery studios in Jozi, and they're brilliant artists in their own right as well. More on Melville Mudroom in future issues too.

Lara holds it down at the Kruis Gemeente, running the admin, their events and fundraisers, and probably a lot more than we know about.

And from the Koppies, Barbara, Alison, Elsje, Tam, Merle, Sarah, Cynthia and Natasha Erlank. One for the future is Siphelele. And a few from the MRA that I have not had the privilege to get to know well yet, like Lone, and Kelsey.

Sjoe, that's a long list. If you made it through all of that, you must love Melville's women.

Personally, I love women. I was raised by a single mother, with three big sisters, aunt and grandma. Most of my mentors are women. Heck, most of my business partners and employees are women. I feel most comfortable when I'm around ladies. I feel I can be my truest self, and in turn connect deeper.

This was the easiest digest I've ever had to write, and probably the least research I've ever had to do, because I know each one of these ladies. I have a real connection to all of them, and feel incredibly privileged to be able to say that. What a flex!

I intend to spend the foreseeable future building, learning and fostering community with these formidable women.

Please say thank you in person when you see them this month. The rocks of Melville. Imbokodo

Enjoyed this week’s digest? Consider buying us a coffee – It keeps the newsletter going.

For more updates as the week goes on, visit our Instagram page @snapson7th or our Melville Pulse event calendar

August was our biggest turnout since the grand launch in February.

We estimated sixty artists and ended up with over seventy, spread properly across the mile instead of bunched into one corner, which is exactly what we'd been trying to fix. The shuttles worked. The tour worked. And the community enjoyed their suburb.

Next one is Thursday 3 September, and it's a Heritage special. Participation applications are open now, and tickets are live.

Eight months in, the Art Mile is on every event listing in this city. That’s insane..

One more very important thing..

The Melville Art Mile is not a Snaps On Seventh product. It belongs to the community, for the arts of Melville, for a safe walkable street once a month, and to bring the precinct's economy back. The Melville Art Mile Association is how we hand it over properly, so to do that, official MAMA membership is opening soon. More on that soon.

The Pet Winter Swag Competition, brought to you by the good people of Raw Pet Food Deli, is still on – enter now and win big when the contest ends in September.

Enter via [email protected] or in person at the deli. Just take a selfie of your furry family member in their best winter outfit, and send us the picture with the animal’s name. We’ll take it from there.

Here’s our contest leader by way of participation, the gorgeous Coco Chanel!

Sbhiva clothing brand at 27 Boxes is turning nine, and owner, Sihle, is not marking it with a cake.

He's bringing Beetles. Actual Volkswagen Beetles, parked up at 27 Boxes on the last Saturday of October, with a drive through the neighbourhood first and cars lining up on 3rd and 4th Avenue. If enough of them come, and he's hoping for fifty, 4th takes the overflow.

The idea comes from something he remembers about this suburb. "Melville used to have a lot of Beetles," he told us. "Students and parents just parked Beetles on the road." He was one of those students. Now he wants that back, for a day at least.

There'll be a market on the day, food partnerships with other tenants in the centre, music, and families. He's also stripping and rebuilding an engine inside the shop ahead of it, and dropping five exclusive items, including a piece marking the Beetle's 90th anniversary.

He doesn't want to just put on a car show. "A lot of engagement. I want the community to come see what we do. Meet the brand." He wants to put a face to the name.

There's a reason that matters to him. Sihle almost left last month. There's been friction between some residents and some of the tenants at the centre, and he felt it, the sense of exclusion. He decided to stay..

"I love this community so much. I made sure that I come back to 27 Boxes."

He didn't end up here by accident either. People who opened their first, second and third shops in Melville are the ones who told him to come. "I'm not here by mistake."

We'll hit you with a reminder closer to the day. For now, put the last Saturday of October in your diary.

We spoke to the 27 Boxes Centre Manager Samora who dropped a bombshell on us: There's a Courier Guy locker sitting at 27 Boxes, and hardly anyone in Melville knows it's there.

Her point: people are driving to Campus Square, or paying for an Uber, to fetch a parcel they could walk to.

So now you know. Send your next delivery to the locker at 27 Boxes and keep the trip, and the money, in the neighbourhood.

Mimosa's Alleyway Gets Its Canopy

Mimosa School unveils its new Alleyway Canopy on Saturday 29 August, 9:46 for 10:00, and it's a handmade, crocheted thing made by the school community. Stay for the Open Day from 10:00 to 12:00: tours, activities, the Baby Group, Preschool and Foundation Phase, then a community picnic. Park on Greenlands Road. RSVP to Ann on 060 321 2973.

After years of dealing with potholes, water outages and broken streetlights, Ward 87 councillor Cllr Kyle Jacobs has decided to cut his time short and not stand for re-election. This isn't his grand exit from Melville. This suburb is kinda hard to leave behind.

"I'm not turning my back on the community or the city at large," he said. "I do still want to be actively involved in some way or form when it comes to contributing to the city as a whole."

The details on what that might look like are still a bit iffy, but after years of hitting his head against what he calls a brick wall, he's ready for something different.

The Most Powerful Powerless Position

Being a ward councillor can be a strange position to be in. "You're probably the most powerless elected official in the entire system," said Cllr Jacobs. "Yet the expectations on you are more than those of the president."

As a true soldier of the community, he raised issues daily, pushed for action, went to the media and petitioned for the rights of the people. But he could still only do so much with what he had.

"I wish I had the power to hire and fire people, to hold them accountable and discipline them. I wish I had the power to decide where money was spent," he said. "If that was the case, we would have made sure that money was spent to prioritise water infrastructure."

What Residents Need To Understand

For Cllr Jacobs, this election is about more than picking a familiar face. "People need to understand that system of government," he said. "Vote for a good ward councillor, but vote for the right party that's going to help your ward councillor and back your ward councillor."

Council politics, he says, is a numbers game. The party with enough numbers in council forms government, passes budgets, sets policy, appoints top management. A brilliant ward councillor can't fix a broken city alone.

"Ward councillors don't have executive authority," he said. "We can raise concerns, we can raise issues, but implementation and action, that happens by the executive government."

He's hopeful about the DA team he's leaving behind. Helen Zille, he points out, is the mayoral candidate, and whatever residents think of her, her track record speaks for itself. "She's done it in Cape Town, she's done it in the Western Cape. When they came in, Sea Point was the equivalent of Hillbrow. Look at it now."

The new DA candidate for Ward 87, he hinted, is someone Melville already knows. "Very formidable person. Very committed individual."

A Date With Destiny

Despite everything, Cllr Jacobs is optimistic.

Things are bleak right now, and he doesn't sugarcoat it. More outages than ever. Water cuts. Refuse piling up. But he believes change is coming. "Joburg's best days are ahead of itself. And the same is for Melville and the rest of Ward 87. Our best days are ahead of us."

Residents, as he puts it, have a date with destiny. The local government election is on 4 November 2026.

We're giving Cllr Jacobs a proper farewell as next week's main story.

With the elections drawing near, there is no better time to shake things up. Unfortunately, if you missed voter registration, you will need to catch the next one. Those who wish to change voting stations also missed the window, but just to be on the safe side, you can check your status on the IEC website.

We had the chance to chat with RISE Mzansi's ward councillor candidate, Malik Dasoo, who, in all honesty, exudes the type of passion for the Ville one naturally expects from a regular ole resident. If his track record is anything to go by, he is not the type to sit around and wait for change to land on his lap.

"I'm an activist before I'm a politician," he said, and as someone we’ve seen play an active role in fighting Melville’s woes, I believe him. 

His main focus lies within the community. He's encouraging residents to come and talk to him about what matters to them, and even inviting people to have him over to their homes to create a bond with the community he plans to serve.

Cllr candidate Dasoo is not new to the streets of Melville, and as an avid birdwatcher, he has offered to lead birdwatching walks with the Friends of the Melville Koppies if time allows. He's part of the champions who gave Bambanani a helping hand when it was under pressure, he's joined discussions about the decline in foot traffic since COVID, and he worked on a holistic plan around zoning and parking.

At this point, water issues are the main focus for many residents, and Dasoo plans to join the protests for service delivery. He's seen these protests work before, not in the dramatic fashion, but to build community, attract media attention, and give civil organisations like WaterCAN real examples they can take into higher-level policy discussions.

"You don't need to have a majority in city council to make a difference," he said. "If you have one person who's committed, who uses all the powers available, requesting information, petitioning MMCs, submitting motions, inspecting projects, scrutinising budgets, you can make a change."

What he hears most from residents is that they just don't know what's happening at city level. "A councillor is ultimately the facilitator between people and the city council." He aims to consider residents' interests and provide feedback that keeps everyone in the loop on what the city is doing or not doing.

We don’t like to dabble in politics, but we want you to feel informed. These are the two most active political parties in our area, and like your maths teacher used to say the whole year about end-of-year exams: The elections are around the corner. 

Whether it's Cllr Jacobs stepping back, or Malik Dasoo stepping up, one thing both agree on: this election matters. And residents have the power to decide what comes next.

This morning, residents gathered

at the corner of Main Road and 4th Avenue for another protest against the city's failing water infrastructure. And they're making one thing clear: this didn't have to happen.

"We're not angry about the contractors," said Josh Nel, one of the organisers behind the February protests and tomorrow's action. "We also wouldn't work if we hadn't been paid for months. We're angry at the fact that this had to happen at all."

The issue, he explains, is that the City of Joburg hasn't released the funds it owes to Rand Water. Revenue collection is up, the money is there, but it's not being paid out.

It isn't an organisation behind this, he's quick to say. "It's really like a group of residents."

A Plea From The Community

The Melville Residents Association has finally had enough and published an open letter to Johannesburg Water. They're calling the whole mess "a chronic and unacceptable failure of basic service delivery", 

In 2026 alone, many residents have already clocked more than 50 dry days. Some parts of the suburb are now heading into their eighth consecutive day without water. At this point people are starting to forget what a functioning tap feels like.

Particularly high on the frustration list is the Hursthill 2 Reservoir. Repairs that were supposed to be finished by July 2026 have somehow been pushed all the way to March 2027. Progress currently sits at a heroic 20%, and the contractor has apparently packed up and left. Residents are left dealing with the fallout of project management, procurement, financial admin and maintenance failures that they had zero say in. 

The association is demanding three very reasonable things: actual accountability, a timeline that doesn't keep sliding further into the future, and communication that doesn't feel like an afterthought. Their message is pretty clear:

"We are tired of excuses. We are tired of shifting timelines. We are tired of temporary fixes. And we are tired of being told to wait."

A Protest With Purpose

"We don't expect the protests to bring about the return of water or power," Josh said. "What it's really about is making sure there's pressure on the city and entities like Joburg Water, and making it clear that we're watching them."

The February protests did get results, just not the kind you can drink from a tap. Two ministers had to skip the State of the Nation Address to fly up and deal with the crisis. The President announced a Water Crisis Committee. Whether that committee has actually done anything is another question, but the issue landed on the national radar.

"We're under no illusions that it's going to fix things overnight," Josh said. "But it's an important part of civic engagement."

Josh's message to the community is simple: be there.

"Even if you can only attend for a short time tomorrow [Friday], please be there. Every person who's there helps us send a stronger message."

What Residents Need To Know

On the collection front, MSI has confirmed that Pikitup has caught up on backlogs and is resuming its normal round collection schedule.

Information about the current outage remains scarce. Cllr Jacobs, who's been at the source of the issue told us that residents are largely being left in the dark about what's been restored and what's still without water. He’s getting nothing from the city.

For those without water, the usual satellite station collection hours apply. Tankers typically arrive at set times, and residents are asked to be considerate. There's a maximum refill amount per person to ensure everyone gets a fair share.

Save these dates, because the Koppies will be closed: Sunday 16 August for the Total Sports Race, Sunday 6 September for the Runzone Race, and Sunday 4 October for the Spar Race. Open every other Sunday morning, 8:00 to 11:30.

The AGM is Saturday 19 September at 14:00 at the Lecture Hut, followed by Prof Sally Archibald from Wits on "Glorious African Grasslands". Park close to 1 Kafue Road, Emmarentia. All welcome. More details on 066 571 9539.

Melville Koppies is on the 2026 Best of Joburg list, in two categories: best hike, and best place to take out-of-town visitors. Go and vote.

The team burnt a firebreak along Zambesi Road ahead of Prof Archibald's practical burn on 20 August, which is why there was smoke at the bottom of 8th Avenue. Three weeks on from the July burn, the green shoots are already back through the blackened stumps.

And a reminder, because fines are real: don't damage the termitary, don't remove the plants, don't cause a fire. Up to R3k if you get caught slippin’.

Pave The Way Went Viral, And Deserved To

While the rest of us were complaining about the bins, and water, Carly and the Pave The Way team spent Friday clearing the Rustenburg Road curve on the side heading to Laborie. And she doesn't even live here!

It was a big one. Full cleanup, refuse removal, the works, funded by donations from a lady who works at Lancet and travels the road daily.  The initiative takes these donations and creates real work for the crew doing it. These are the handymen, electricians, plumbers, and tree fellers we see waiting for jobs outside Builders.

Then their reel did something none of us expected. 14,000 views, and 96.3% of them from people who don't follow the account. In a week when Melville was in the news for dry taps and uncollected refuse, the thing that travelled furthest was this random act of kindness.

If you want to help, Carly is the person to talk to. She's on [email protected], and donations go straight into the next stretch of road and the wages of the crew clearing it.

Worth knowing about too: Pave The Way is a subsidiary of Cross the Divide, a registered non-profit working in Ward 90 and surrounds on exactly this kind of thing, meals, hygiene facilities, documentation, and creating meaningful jobs through public-space work. Dianne Webb is their contact on 082 854 2583.

We all have them: that first coffee at a 7th Street café, the sound of cicadas on a summer afternoon, the moment you realised this quirky suburb had become home.

Melville is more than just potholes and water outages. It's a community with a pulse, a personality, and a history worth remembering. And we want to hear yours.

The My Melville Memories project is calling on residents to submit their favourite moments, big or small. That time you got caught in a thunderstorm at the Koppies. The neighbour who became a lifelong friend. The day you discovered the best toastie in Joburg. The memories that make this place special.

It's easy to get caught up in the frustrations of failing infrastructure and broken promises. But amid it all, Melville endures because of the people who live here, love here, and refuse to give up on this place.

So dig out those photos, jot down that story, and send it in. Whether it's a paragraph, a poem, or just a few lines, every memory helps build a picture of what Melville really is.

Let's remind ourselves why we stay. Let's celebrate the heart of this community.

Nickhail's "Good Wh*res and Bad Laws"

We are late to this one, but we had to bring it to you. It took two years of chasing funding, countless rejections and ultimately a decision to self-finance, but long-term Mellies resident Nickhail, writer, producer and director of Good Wh*res and Bad Laws*, took a chance and bet on his vision. The film premiered on 24 July at The Bioscope independent cinema, and apparently it was all worth it.

"I put in a lot of work making this movie," he said. "A lot of pressure was going into making this project. But after all the hardship, it paid off."

The night itself was special for more than one reason. It fell one day after his birthday, and exactly a year after he'd cast Llewellyn Cordier in the lead role. But the moment that stood out most came during the Q&A with the cast.

A Cast Of Titans

The cast reads like a who's who of South African talent. Cordier, known for Kings of Jo'burg, stars alongside Nnekwa Tsajwa, an iconic South African actor who’s on the series as well, Bianca Russell and Caitlin Henning. "These people are really talented actors and very respected," Nickhail said. "Bianca's audition stood out so well; she was made for the part. And Caitlin brought animal traits to her character that made it unique."

During the Q&A, the cast acknowledged the sheer amount of work and effort behind the film. "In a way, they gave me my flowers," he said. "It was really a heartfelt moment."

A World Shown Through Its Scars

The idea sparked in September 2024, when a group of directors decided to make an anthology film. That project never came together, but his script about a brothel stuck with him.

"I love the gangster genre, Scarface, The Godfather, but South Africa is oversaturated with gangster films," he said. "What we haven't explored is pimps and prostitutes."

Set in a dystopian future where a global war has wiped out the internet and society has collapsed, the film explores what remains: the oldest profession and the law. With a low budget and no room for expensive CGI, Nickhail chose instead to show the world's effects on his characters. "Each of the characters carry a scar of this new world with them," he said. "And you could see that in their expressions."

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