What a year in Melville it’s been! Welcome to the final newsletter of 2025. Happy holidays!

In this week’s Melville Untold:

• A full Guide To The Festive Season 2025 🎄✨

• Introducing Derwin Palette Clothing 👕

• Bakang The Xmas Saxophonist Is Coming Back! 🎅

Let’s go. 

— Aubrey Moloto, Kele Jackson

The Digest

A Full Guide To The Festive Season 2025 🎄✨

Happy holidays, Melville! What a journey 2025 has been for the neighbourhood. It was a spectacular year. A year where Melville’s resilience shone again, letting Jozi know that the last several times we dipped and came back were not a fluke. It’s in the water! (Or the lack thereof).

No, seriously though, it’s the people. I’m tremendously proud to be a Melvillian right now, and I hope to infect you with this feeling in 2026 because it’s going to be insane.

The Ultimate Festive Guide

Just like last year, we can’t leave you hanging over Dezemba, not knowing where to shop or having peace of mind that your home is safe while you're away. Without further ado, we present an upgrade on last year's guide. Together with Danny Nunes of the Melville Security Initiative (MSI) and Cobi Meyer of Ziggy’s Pet Pamporium and the Melville Business Association, we have built a robust guide to help you have the best possible festive season.

Use it to check when your favourite spots close and which special Christmas and New Year's events to hit. If you’re leaving the hood, use the safety precautions we put together with the MSI for best practices when locking up.

For the Staycationers & Sitters

If you have a house sitter, empower them with this guide; it includes useful contacts, safety protocols, and tips on where they can shop or dine while holding down the fort. If you’re one of those last-minute preppers stuck without a pet or house sitter, fear not, we’ve got your back! We’ve built a directory of recommended, reliable sitters just for you.

Guide To The Festive Season 2025 directory link: Via Google Sheets

Here’s a safety message by the MSI highlighting some of the most important tips and best practices we have spoken about in previous newsletters. You can also find a copy of those previous articles in the Safety, Emergency & Useful Contacts tab of the Google Sheet. These are notes on how house break-ins and robbers operate and best practices when leaving your home for the holidays.

🎄 MSI | Festive Season Safety Notice 🎄

As we move into the festive season, the Melville Security Initiative would like to remind residents to remain vigilant and proactive about their personal and household safety.

Holiday Safety Tips:

• Secure your household before leaving and test your alarm system to ensure it is fully operational.

• Add a key holder to your alarm profile with your armed response company to avoid delays during an incident.

• Ask a trusted neighbour to collect your post and keep an eye on your property while you are away.

• Be mindful when coming and going — most crimes recorded this year have been opportunistic in nature.

• Remain aware of your surroundings, especially when walking, parking, or using mobile devices in public spaces.

A little planning and awareness goes a long way in keeping our community safe.

We wish all residents a safe and peaceful festive season.

— Melville Security Initiative (MSI)

And there you have it. We don’t want to hear about anyone having a bad festive season because of safety and logistical problems! Download the sheet, use it online, screenshot it, print it out, just don’t tattoo it! It’s going to get very awkward when we update it next year.

Please do your own due diligence when inviting a pet or house sitter into your home. Check references, experience and criminal records!

If you enjoyed the last digest of the year, consider buying us a coffee; Payshap id: 0605293425 (Standardbank)/ Snap Scan

What’s Happenin’ 🤔

Our gig guide this week runs right up until the new year. We want you to be able to use it alongside the The Melville Pulse Events Calendar.

Although we won’t be active on social media or publishing newsletters over the holidays, we will be updating the online events calendar! 

Melville Weather For The Week ☔️

Wednesday 

25° 🌡️ 16°  | 🌩️ |  🌧️ 55% | NW 15 km/h 💨

Thursday  

23° 🌡️ 14° | 🌩️ | 🌧️ 86% | NW 9 km/h 💨

Friday 

23° 🌡️ 16° | 🌩 | 🌧️ 55% | N 7 km/h 💨

Saturday 

24° 🌡️ 16° | ☁️ |  🌧️ 55% | N 7 km/h 💨

Sunday

22° 🌡️ 15° | ⛅️ | 🌧️ 66% | N 13 km/h 💨

Monday 

23° 🌡️ 15° | ☁️ |  🌧️ 55% | N 11 km/h 💨

Tuesday 

21° 🌡️ 18° | 🌤️ |  🌧️ 69% | N 13 km/h 💨

Live & Music Events Lowdown 🎸

 What better excuse than the festive season to groove? You’ve been good all year, celebrate your 2025 wins!

21/12 | Sunday | 4 pm - 10 pm | Great Dane | BONJ Live ft. Amoungst the people I Know, Iamsiwas, Sque and Nodiggity | R150

For more updates as the month goes on, check out the Melville Pulse events calendar

Business Bites 📂

Introducing Derwin Palette Clothing

Gentlemen, the Melville menswear renaissance is officially upon us.

Joining eclectic Melville fashion brands like Suhu Original and Sbhiva is the sophisticated Derwin Palette, now setting the tone for the fashion scene at Joburg Artist Market.

Founder Zolani operates on a radical philosophy: you shop with your eyes, but you buy with your hands. That’s why Derwin Palette prioritises textile quality, eschewing fast fashion for comfortable, relaxed-fit staples designed to be lived in, not just photographed.

Strategic about his footprint, Zolani chose Joburg Artist Market as the foundational “showroom” to build a national legacy rather than just another boutique. He keeps production entirely in-house. By cutting out the middleman, he guarantees that every stitch meets his exacting standards, no outsourcing, no delays.

If you’re hunting for a Christmas gift that screams "substance," for the men in your life, skip the socks. Head to 27 Boxes, feel the fabric for yourself, and invest in the future of South African menswear.

Civil Matters👷‍♀️

The Councillor Shuffle

Our Ward Councillor, Kyle Jacobs, is off from 15 December for a much-needed break. He’ll return to the office on January 3rd to take on those daunting municipal fights for us. Thank you for a massive shift in 2025, Councillor. We’re keen to have you back re-energised in 2026, we still have much to do!

In the meantime, Ward 99 Councillor Hendrik Bodenstein is standing in as the interim Ward 87 councillor. He’s been very active in the council groups and seems to have taken over without missing a beat! (Vaang tips, Pikitup!)

Joint Councillor Statement: The Water Crisis

There’s quite a bit happening with the Councillors at the moment. Our Ward 87 Councillor Jacobs, together with Councillors Nicolene Jonker, Genevieve Sherman, and Chantelle Fourie-Shawe, issued a statement after engaging Joburg Water senior management on Monday, 15 December 2025.

Here is the lowdown on why our taps ran dry while our neighbours stayed hydrated, and what Joburg Water had to say for themselves.

The big question on everyone's lips was: Why were Hursthill 1 and 2 the only systems to throw a tantrum during the recent Eikenhof supply line interruption? While we were hauling buckets, other areas on the same supply line, like Brixton and Crosby, retained their water.

Joburg Water explained that Hursthill 1 and 2 are currently operating on "bypass" (direct feed) and have absolutely no functional reservoir storage at the moment. This essentially puts these areas in the most vulnerable position possible: we are the first to lose water when pressure drops and the very last to get it back.

Joburg Water initially stated that the bypass lines were not closed, implying everything should have been fine. Our councillors, however, pointed out that this explanation had more holes in it than a sieve—if that were true, why were we the only ones dry?

To their credit, Joburg Water accepted that their explanation wasn’t satisfactory. They have agreed to go back to the drawing board with Rand Water to reassess system behaviour and fix their contingency plans before the next round of maintenance.

In a refreshing turn of events, Joburg Water actually acknowledged several failures during the meeting:

• System Surprise: They admitted they didn't fully identify the connectivity issues between the Commando system and Eikenhof upfront, despite knowing the system is sensitive.

• Mixed Messages: They confessed that their public communications contained incorrect or misleading technical wording (like saying outlets were closed when they weren't).

• The Phantom Tankers: They acknowledged that the alternative water supply never arrived at Hursthill 2, despite their messages promising it was on the way.

• Radio Silence: They admitted they didn't adequately respond to councillors' requests for clarity on 14 December, which left our elected reps (and us) in the dark.

What Now?

The councillors are under no illusion that meetings and apologies magically make water flow out of the tap. However, getting Joburg Water to admit fault establishes a clear record for accountability.

Moving forward, the focus is on fixing the storage resilience at Hursthill 1 and 2 and ensuring that if the taps go dry again, the tankers actually show up. The councillors have promised to keep watching like hawks because, frankly, residents cannot repeatedly be the point of failure in the system.

Pikitup Should Be Back on Track This Week

Pikitup is running on schedule again this week. You should have had your bins collected yesterday, and for those of us who get collections on Friday, make sure to get those bins out early. One man’s trash is another man’s… trash! Finally, some order!

Note: Pikitup will be running as usual throughout the festive season and only closing on Christmas Day.

The Tail End 🐾

Market Watch 🎪

Melville Artisanal Market (Tennis Courts)

Open this week. After a quieter turnout last week, Santa is making a comeback! Look out for the "guess the weight of the chicken" game (yes, really), the closest guess wins a hamper of goodies from the vendors.

The tentative reopening date is set for 17 January, depending on vendor confirmation. Keep an eye on the Melville Pulse Events Calendar for reopen updates.

Melville Market (The Church)

Closed for the year. Their final market was this past Saturday, 13 December they reopen on the last Saturday of January 2026, the 31st.

Koppies Check-In ⛰

Melville Koppies Central Closed For The Holidays

The Koppies committee has signed off for the year as well. Sunday the 14th was our last week open. Our urban oasis will be back to normal opening times on the 4th of January 2026.

Icing On The Cake 🧁 

Our Christmas Saxa Claus is Back!

Bakang Sehole, the musical Santa Claus, is planning his return to add some Christmas spirit to this year’s festive season. He’s been one of the biggest highlights of our hood's Christmases, with many people we’ve interviewed saying that what they love most about Melville is "the guy dressed as Santa playing Christmas carols through the streets."

We did a deep dive with Bakang a few months ago and got to know the man behind the Santa outfit and his close relationship with Melvillians.

He aims to be back in our hood from the 20th to the 25th. If you read the story, you’ll know that he was displaced earlier in the year from his place in Auckland Park. He had to return home to Vryburg but has been itching to hit the Melville streets once again.

If anyone has a room to let, couch, cottage or any donations for Bakang so he can bless our streets with beautiful music, please reach out to him at 060 854 2736.

Thank you! 🙏

What a way to wrap up an incredible year in Melville! Enjoyed the read? Why don’t you tip us? Give us a Xmas prezzie via Snap Scan

A Note from the Editor

What a year, what a year! So many amazing things happened for our hood and for Snaps On Seventh. Although we’re still scraping through financially, we have built a very fulfilling business over the last three years. We love what we do and wouldn’t change it for the world! Watch out for more major moves in 2026.

While video seems to still be eluding us (looking at you, YouTube), the newsletter has grown tremendously; we have increased subscribers by 82%. Our social media has also grown well, achieving over 120k monthly views on our Meta platforms. The new Melville Art Mile pages have also skyrocketed, gaining over 600 followers in just two weeks. That’s all you, thank you for the incredible support, Melville!

The Vision for 2026

The newsletter remains our number one asset and will be prioritised over everything else. It’s the foundation of everything we do. While our social media channels do well, we need to nail down video content to grow them exponentially. We also need to secure more content creation gigs to subsidise the newsletter and community-building efforts. The catch? We only want to work with Melville businesses, personal brands, and families to capture those special moments. We want Melville to look the way it feels: amazing! To do that, we offer a crazy 35% discount for shoot bookings in Melville.

Upcoming Projects

• The Melville Art Mile: This is our second highest priority for 2026.

• Tours: We plan to keep up the immersive Melville experience tours, including the Art Mile walk, an eclectic guest house and dining experience, and even a Melville Koppies heritage & markets walking tour throughout the year.

• The Melville Pocket Companion: Already in many local guest houses, we plan to update this brochure and drive production costs down to get it into even more spots. Maybe it's time to include our neighbours?

New Look, Same Soul

Another exciting shift is our brand overhaul. We threw the original brand together because the priority was high-quality content and building a voice. Toward the end of this year, we had a UJ intern come in, and together with Jared Hurwitz-Joseph of iheartideas.co.za (the graphic designer for Melville Art Mile), we updated our logo and brand look and feel. Don’t be surprised if you see us showing up better in 2026! It’s not exactly where we need it to be yet, but it's close enough for this next phase.

It’s been three full years of Snaps On Seventh, and I’m loving every single minute of building this wonderful start-up.

Thank you for rocking with us through 2025, Melville. The spirit is real, and I’m feeling it!

This is it for us for the year. We’re closing today, 17 December, and officially reopening on 16 January. We need to rest, re-energise, and build things that will make 2026 an even better year for everyone here.

We wont be posting on social media or publishing any newsletters but will be updating the Melville Pulse Events Calendar. Bookmark it for you gig guide fix while we’re gone.

'Til 2026, Melville. Happy holidays!

Stay festive, stay fiery, stay family-oriented.

Hoşçakalın. ✌️