Are Skhothanes Back, or Did We Just Start Looking Again?

August 10, 2026

Woza madala, woza.

For a while, it felt like Skhothane had become one of those South African cultural moments that belonged to another era.

You remember the images. The outfits that refused to be quiet. The music blasting from Quantum taxis. Groups of Skhothanes dancing and raving with their heads hanging out of windows. Ultramel being poured onto the ground and used to “khotha.” The colours, the competition, the performance of it all.

Then, somewhere along the way, the cameras moved on.

But maybe the people didn't.

Lately, I've been seeing more Skhothane-inspired content finding its way onto TikTok. Dancers. Groups. Loud outfits. Bigger personalities. And, perhaps more importantly, young South African brands connected to that world are beginning to get visibility too.

Brands and names like Abiiter and Sfazo are slowly appearing in the feed.

And it has me wondering:

Are Skhothanes actually coming back, or did we simply start looking again?

Because there's a difference.

A culture doesn't necessarily disappear because it stops trending. Sometimes it just becomes less visible. The people keep dressing. They keep dancing. They keep creating. They keep finding new ways to express themselves.

Then suddenly, someone puts a camera in front of them again.

And TikTok is very good at doing exactly that.

The interesting part is that if Skhothane really is entering another era, I don't think we're going to get the exact same thing we saw before.

The world has changed.

The music has changed. The internet has changed. The way young people discover fashion has changed. And now a local outfit can go from a street in South Africa to thousands of screens in a matter of hours.

So what does the next version look like?

Are we still going to see Quantum cabs with the music turned all the way up, making a line with a group of Skhothanes dancing and raving with their heads out of the windows?

Are we going to see more Ultramel being used to draw signs on the ground as a way of yoku khotha?

Or are we watching the birth of something completely different?

Maybe the next Skhothane era won't look like the last one at all.

Maybe it will be a mutation.

And honestly, I'm looking forward to seeing what it becomes.

Want to see the wave for yourself?
There's only so much you can capture in words and still images. Here's one of the TikTok videos that caught my attention and made me start wondering whether we're watching the Skhothane wave build again.

Watch the video on TikTok →
(Credit: @fafastrathegodfather001 on TikTok)

For those who want to hop onto the wave...

If reading this has you wondering where you can actually find some of the pieces, here's a look at some of the players on the supply side of the culture.