Johannesburg turns 140 this month. The goldfields were proclaimed public diggings on 8 September 1886, and Melville followed ten years later. Welcome to Melville Untold, let your eyes be the shovels, and the week's finds be the gold. Let's get digging!

In this week’s newsletter,

— Aubrey Moloto, Caroline Koma

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Last October, we wrote about a footrace with no starting gun. You buy a ticket, a GPX file lands in your inbox, and you run the route yourself on any Sunday the reserve is open, competing live on the Strava app. Alex Weiss came up with it after Koppies Chairperson, Jenny Grice, asked his mapping company, Forge, to redo the Melville Koppies maps, and after the committee turned down a conventional trail event. Marshals, clearances and plastic markers were way more than our small reserve could handle. About a hundred people ran it last year, and 60 cents in every rand went to the Koppies, raising just over R10k for the Green Belt.

Year Two, And One Sunday Left

This year the Trail Fund Project is a 10km from Fingers Crossed in Emmarentia, through the Botanical Gardens and up into the reserve, on two Sundays instead of a two-week window. About 90 people ran the first on 13 September. The last is this Sunday. 210 tickets have gone this season vs 130 in all of last year, and three things have changed: the split, the sponsors, and how you can navigate it.

What A Race Like This Does For A Green Belt

A year ago, the Joburg Property Company had to put out a statement about the future of the Braamfontein parkland. At the same time, Marks Park sat in a lease review. The Friends of Melville Koppies are volunteers; City Parks does help, and the rest comes from entrance fees, tours and donations, against a reserve costing roughly R23,500 a month. "It's good in our bank account," Jenny says. "Very nice income for those quiet months. December we close for half the Sundays, but we still have to pay the bills."

Somewhere To Run Without Watching Your Back

It's been a horrible month to be a woman in running shoes. After the Kempton Park killings, clubs and police both told women not to run alone. Megan Betty ran on the 13th anyway. "It's just disappointing that women can't go out and feel safe by themselves," she says. "You've got to always have your neck on a little GoPro stick." None of that should be an argument for giving up the streets. It's why Alex raised security before we even asked. "Melville Koppies used to be dangerous, man. If the Friends didn't step in to sort out the security issue at the park, we wouldn't be able to go there."

Forge-ing Your Own Lane

Forge retired its own hiking app last year. Since January, Alex, his brother Joshua and Michael Halley have run the South African arm of Outdooractive, a German platform Alex worked at, with about 70 million users. "Instead of trying to compete with bigger apps, just to use them instead," is how Alex puts the pivot. The Koppies is fully mapped on there now, historical sites and reserve rules and all. The race still runs on Strava, because the segment and the timing are proprietary to Strava.

Nobody Is Going To Mark The Route For You

There are no markers and no water tables, because the volunteers won't have them: plastic ends up as litter, the same objection that killed the conventional race. Veer about 10 metres off the line, and Strava stops recording. That's how a field of 90 produced only eight recorded times. Sean Evans, our current race leader, loaded the GPX onto his Garmin and still got lost! Megan didn't load it at all: "I had to hang with people that knew where we were going. So we got lost multiple times." "People didn't care," Alex says. "Like, I'm lost, but I'm still enjoying it!" One group did two laps of Emmarentia. For Sunday, there'll be two signboards at the spots where everyone went wrong. So if you messed up last week, this is a great chance to put up a proper entry.

The Brands Came To The Party

New this year, sponsors set up at Fingers Crossed on race morning. The Sweat Shop and ASICS came on the 13th; people tried trail shoes on the grass and bought gear, and FKT Run Store, opening in Craighall Park around November, is there on Sunday again. "It was quite a cosy atmosphere," Alex says. "People were very willing to go and chat to the vendors."

Forty Cents In The Rand

The split is 40 cents now instead of 60. "One of the big things we realise is we have to make it financially viable to do it, otherwise you undermine your own ability to do the charity work," Alex says. That weekend put R4,500 into the reserve; the season sits at R10,500, and he's hoping to clear R12,000 by Sunday night. It goes to fences, guards at the gate, and bills when it's quiet. Only about 15% of the field had run it before. Sean had never set foot in the reserve until last year's race: "It's taken me there twice now. Which I should probably do more often in my own time."

Melville, It's Time To Come To The Party

Asked about buy-in from the hood: "I don't really have a natural connection to Melville anymore. I mean I work in Melville, at Love Books. So it's actually pretty minimal."

One Melville man put merch into the lucky draw because he'd lived here 15 years, in true Melville Spirit-style, but that's where it ends. "It's actually been more Emmarentia. For the Melville residents, ironically, it's on the Judith Road side, so it's almost out of their visibility."

We have more to gain from that hill than any suburb around it, and Emmarentia has shown up more. I feel like the race should end on the other side at Service Station, De Baba, Top Dose, heck, even Die Pienk Kerk would be stellar. C'mon Melville, let's do what we're known for: Show up for each other.

I Love Melville

Jenny's favourite part is who it brings. She tells you about an unfit man who arrived with a friend who clearly runs trails for a living, pointed at him and said, "You see, I'm going to be like him now!" Megan's advice for Sunday: "Stop at the top of the hill, take a photo. Look at the new flowers growing after it's been burnt. Don't actually race the race. Look up a bit."

07:30 to 11:30 on Sunday at Fingers Crossed, 3 Levubu Road, Emmarentia. R180 plus booking covers entry, coffee, a goodie bag and a lucky draw ticket. Everything you need is here. It is the cheapest way to pay for your own nature reserve, and the least you have to do is have fun.

This Week in Melville: 20 to 27 August, the once-offs worth planning around. View full calendar for the recurring events.

For more updates as the week goes on, visit our Instagram page @snapson_7th or our Melville Pulse event calendar

Don’t see your event? Submit it here. Need content coverage? Request a quote. Here’s our work.

Artist Spotlight: Mr.Ëksê

This month’s poster is by Graffiti Artist Mr.Ëksê, and once you've seen his work, you won't forget it. He's a son of Orlando West who has spent almost 30 years turning the streets of Soweto into something electric. He trained formally as a photographer at the Alf Kumalo Museum, sharpened up as a printmaker at Artist Proof Studio and studied multimedia art at Greenside Design Centre, then chose to tag walls over all three.

"Graffiti is the most democratic art medium," he says. "As artists, we are committed to sharing the beauty and transformative power of visual art with the widest sector of people." With Art Rising 76, he has spent years turning Orlando West into an open gallery: "we create beautiful spaces out of forgotten places." A mile of art down our street is the same argument, on a shorter walk! So come meet him, showing at Indoni Art House.

Mr.Ëksê is on Instagram at @mr.ekse. Melville Art Mile, Thursday 1 October.

Every first Thursday, Melville stops being a suburb and becomes an art walk route. Galleries, studios, markets and creative spaces along 4th Avenue, 7th Street, Main Road and sometimes even up to Chatou Road and Bambooo stay open late, and you either walk between them or, on a VIP ticket, take the shuttle on a tour with Snaps On Seventh. Art, live music, workshops, night markets, and a few things you can't categorise until you're in it.

• Free ticket: the whole route at whatever speed suits you. The map, the official programme and schedule, access to all exhibitions, and discounts at select outlets along the mile. Paid activations and shuttle rides are pay as you go.

• R150 self-guided: for the ones who'd rather find their own way. The map and programme, access to exhibitions and activations, free unlimited MAM shuttle rides all evening, and outlet discounts.

• R450 VIP guided tour: a guided walk led by me, the Jozi My Jozi Walks 2025 Melville champion. Exclusive access to all exhibitions and the best activations, wine and snacks at participating venues, a dedicated MAM shuttle on standby between the long stretches, and outlet discounts. Departs 17:00 sharp from the stairs at the entrance to the 27 Boxes parkade on 4th Avenue.

On arrival, look for a MAM marshal in a green Jozi My Jozi hi-vis vest. They'll scan your ticket, fit your wristband and hand you the map and programme, which is your guide to every venue, exhibition and activation for the evening. On the VIP tour, meet your guide at the same stairs. If you're not parking at 27 Boxes, ask a marshal for a shuttle to the VIP meeting point at 16:50.

🎟️ Melville Art Mile tickets, Thursday 1 October.

"Water pressure in Melville has improved as the community and the businesses have grown," says Danyle Nunes of Melville Security Initiative, but availability is still the problem. Some days it holds; other days it falls away. Ward councillor candidate Jonathan Thompson's read is that if the system gets time to catch up during recovery, the pressure comes right. "If nothing else happens, there should be a good stable supply of pressure to Melville including the hill," he says, with the caveat that it depends on nothing else breaking. He's asking residents in the lower-lying parts of Melville to go easy on the water for the next few days so the system can refill.

Danny is a little less patient about it. He says Joburg Water and Rand Water have failed to identify what is drying up whole suburbs, that he's seeing residents with water for a handful of hours every two weeks, and that the repairs have to come faster.

Communication is its own problem. JT says Rand Water now talks directly to its client, Joburg Water, rather than to councillors, although pressure from residents and councillors has improved what comes back to them. "In the past, Joburg Water would only notify residents a couple of hours after there's been an issue and the issue has been resolved," he says. "The Commando system updates that Joburg Water has been doing have been slightly better as well."

For the record on the fortnight: Hursthill Reservoir 2 reopened slowly on 4 and 5 September so the downstream pipes didn't burst, a power failure at Zuikerbosch on the 9th knocked Eikenhof off full capacity, and most of the Commando System went dry, and another power problem at Rand Water's Vereeniging plant happened on the 13th. Eikenhof and Zwartkopjes were back to 100% pumping at 03:00 on Monday 14 September. Residents replying to Johannesburg Water on X this week say some streets have been dry for three weeks straight regardless. For us, it feels like we've had water for less than 24 hours total this month. Monday, I woke up to no power or water. Nuts.

Residents marched on Monday again. In their own words: over a week with no water for many of them, a month of on and off before that, and no proper communication about any of it. A replaced valve took out the whole Hursthill system; a leak on Beyers Naudé forced another shutdown while that was still being sorted, then the Eikenhof outage landed on top. They say they're linking up with other regions and wards to do something bigger. Join the Melville/Westdene Water Protest group here. And the OUTTA one here.

A sewage leak running towards Emmarentia Dam was found on Monday 7 September by canoe. Joburg Water came out, had a look, left, and closed the call. Residents and the canoe club logged it again and escalated it to the ward councillors. On Wednesday 9 September, a second team came back, found tree roots grown into the pipe, physically climbed into the hole and pulled them out, then treated the area with chemicals.

Water tested on the following Monday came back bad. Tested again on Friday, "they look a lot better", said Caren Naudé, of the Mind Balance Canoe Club, and the dam is back to normal. The schools that paddle on weekday afternoons cancelled for the whole week and were back on the water this week. "Everything is back to normal."

The call was closed before the problem was fixed, and it took residents logging it a second time and going to their ward councillors to get anyone back out there. So DO NOT sleep on logging municipal issues. It's extremely effective in numbers.

Melville's major outages from last week are resolved, JT says, with one or two isolated issues still waiting on City Power. The 4th Street and 8th Avenue pole was the stubborn one. City Power's contractors couldn't work until City Parks cut the tree branches back; City Parks wouldn't come without City Power on site, and both stood still while houses sat dark from Friday night. Danny says residents eventually took it into their own hands, and City Parks arrived and cleared the branches. "City Power contractors burnt the midnight oil to replace the pole and restore power," he says.

MSI and Beagle Watch stepped up patrols while the street was dark and found nothing suspicious. They did find an extension reel, and the owner can claim it.

Rustenburg Road at the base of the Koppies, weather permitting, and they carry on until it's done. Danny is on the ground leading his team from CREASS.

A quick one from MSI and Creass Community Services: Danny is out of the office from Sunday 20 to Monday 28 September. For emergencies in that week, the Beagle Watch control room is 011 678 1972, and Jonathan Thompson will cover MSI technical.

Our guilt-free chocolate haven is gone! If you've been wondering who's been setting up there recently, it's Kay Blossoms, a perfume bar and makeup studio run by Kuena Khama. She trained as an actress at AFDA Durban, came up to Johannesburg for her honours, and works as a freelance makeup artist on film sets. The business came alive "to keep on the art, to keep on doing what I love, without having to wait for the next gig."

It works like a bar. You test, then blend two or three oil-based perfumes into something that's uniquely yours. "We're promoting unique scents that are not really popular," she says, "cuz everyone, people can tell, 'oh, they're putting on this'. But with us, we're trying to introduce things that always create curiosity and always just smell so good." Testing costs nothing: "You can literally just come in, test different perfumes, test our longevity. Some people just bring other people, because it's an experience."

Kay has been trading for a year and five months, previously in Marshalltown, and she actually started at 27 Boxes before and has since gone elsewhere. She calls it a "360 moment". There's a skincare line just in: body oil and body cream made with shea butter, castor oil and coconut oil, plus house diffusers, mists and linen sprays. She sells wholesale from six bottles up, and she'd like the hood to know that: "If there's anyone in the area who just doesn't know maybe what kind of business they can start, they can come through; we'll show them our price list."

IKO left in August and Sorella has now gone, so the story looked like an exodus. It isn't okay. Kay Blossoms has the Sorella unit, Cozy Cup is here trading quietly inside the yard, Jazz Is Dad has two ticketed nights running, there's a candle making workshop, and a Cape Town township comedy line-up arrives on the 26th. Not to mention that it’s the Melville Art Mile anchor point. Plenty.

Egoli Gas is covering half the R9,288 excluding VAT unit cost of a gas geyser for qualifying existing customers in good standing. Installation is for your own account. Worth a call if you were going to replace it anyway.

I'm slightly embarrassed to finally say I went up for Merle Grace's storytelling on the Koppies, and not only were the kids captured, but I was totally lost in the sauce as well. She moves through a lot of range in one sitting, telling such compelling stories that feel true to Mzansi, and we all stayed with her the whole way. Jenny Grice says some of the Pirates runners came through for it after running their own race that morning, kids in tow, which tells you what kind of Sunday it was. I am NOT missing another one. You shouldn't, either.

Saturday 19 September is a full day at the Koppies, and none of it clashes.

Koppies West walk and work party, 08:00. Meet at the top of Arundel Road at ten to eight. We'll be there with Tony, David, and Stewart. Come for the Hike, or the Work Party and bring the dogs along

Friends of Melville Koppies AGM, 14:00 to 16:00, at Koppies Central, with a talk by Prof Sally Archibald on "Glorious African Grasslands". Everyone is welcome, not just members.

City Parks has appointed Environmental Management Inspectors with the power to arrest anyone breaking environmental regulations inside a nature reserve. Different powers to JMPD, and they don't work off municipal bylaws. They're on call 24 hours. [email protected], or Bishop Ngobeli on 076 950 5187. Worth putting in your phone now rather than looking for it later.

The conservation team, Jenny's gardener Madodana and a handful of residents who donated pavers have finished a wheelchair friendly path up to the lecture hut. The top section is still rough because the bricks ran out. What they want now is a wheelchair user to go and test it properly, including getting to the toilets, and tell them what doesn't work. If that's you or someone you know, reply to this email and we'll connect you.

The Sunday Times ran a piece on 2 September, "Less 'paras' more party: Melville's Art Mile facelift", about reviving the mile against the paranoia narrative that's followed this suburb for a while. I'm quoted in it, which is strange to read; Also, I'm not sure how I feel about the Sunday Times calling human beings "Paras".

Daily Maverick ran "Melville residents have gone without water for over 20% of 2026 so far" on 14 August, built on the Melville Residents Association's own count of more than 50 dry days out of 226.

Here’s some memorable quotes:

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'til next week, Melville,

Stay moving, stay mapped, stay Mellies.

Nos vemos✌️