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Locally, Skateboarding is about the crew and the spot where the crew meets. It’s about the community, a pride of place, and sometimes, that place needs some upgrades.
There was once a place, a place that needed those upgrades, a central meeting spot for all the skaters in Sebokeng called Mamoja Square in Zone 14. It featured a terrible pavement and was a super bumpy place to skate, but it was all the skaters had. The skated it religiously.
Over the past few years it deteriorated until all the paving had disappeared and there was no place left to skate. Opposite Mamoja Square the skaters found an ideal spot to revamp, an old abandoned United Bank building, as part of the on-going Red Bull DIY project. Spearheaded by a Sebokeng skater Paul Melato and skate crew LSD.
A project that strives to support local skate communities in a sustainable and credible way. The idea is not only to assist in the development of their skate spots, but also to give the local skaters a platform to showcase their talents and DIY creativity.
The surface in the old building was filled with heaps of garbage, which the team had to remove before laying 12 x 30m of skateable concrete. A double-step manual pad and quarter-pipe that extends into a wall ride were also included.
According to Sam Khumalo (a long-time member of the Soweto Skate Society), some of the younger skaters already learnt some new skills through the build process – now knowing how to build some other obstacles. The project took about three weeks to complete.
Photos by Mpumelelo Macu / Red Bull Content Pool.
