The Soul Skaters Of South Africa | GREETINGS FROM JOHANNESBURG

This time around in ‘Greetings From’, we are rolling out with the past, present and future of skateboarding in the world-famous South African city of Johannesburg. ‘Jozi’, as she is affectionately known by her citizenry, has been actively skated for 30 years at this point, and it was thanks to pioneers like Pravesh Manga and his street hustling of skate gear that the scene began to grow. Indeed, the theme of DIY is the through-line of our city report from the streets of South Africa- from Westdene DIY skatepark which was created from nothing by brothers Jarryd and Brandon Barnard, to Skate Society Soweto, fronted by the charismatic and garrulous Sechaba TheBakersman. As one of the friendliest and most unified skate scenes we have ever come across on our global journey to connect the grassroots skate cities around our wide world, what Johannesburg might lack in perfect surfaces it makes up for in perfect hearts. As Levi Webb of Crow’s Nest skate-hut notes: “The people here really do