Mandla Hlatshwayo

Striker - Ajax Cape Town
2 Dec 2027
Thursday
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Overview Personal Contract News 3 Transfers Relations Events 105 Awards 1 Matches History

Marked for Mandla Hlatshwayo

63 Edition

The Ajax Cape Town Post

11 Oct 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match9 Oct 2027

Nowhere to hide for Ajax Cape Town

0‑3 against Bidvest Wits, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.

Player ratings11 Oct 2027

Morgan Mkhize beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 33. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

The dugout11 Oct 2027

Mandla Hlatshwayo keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Ajax Cape Town may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Squad11 Oct 2027

Tempers go at Ajax Cape Town

Grant Kekana was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Squad11 Oct 2027

Bradley Khune falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

The dugout11 Oct 2027

No hiding place for Siyabonga Dube

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Siyabonga Dube, and the manager let it.

Boardroom11 Oct 2027

Doors closed at Ajax Cape Town

The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.

Squad11 Oct 2027

Too much change too quickly at Ajax Cape Town

7 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.

The dugout11 Oct 2027

The view from the dugout

“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑3 defeat, delivered by Thulani Mahlangu to a room that had heard them before.

In brief

Back issues
35 Edition

The Ajax Cape Town Post

29 Mar 2027
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad29 Mar 2027

Words exchanged at Ajax Cape Town

Luke Baartman and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Squad29 Mar 2027

Thami Mkhize falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

The dugout29 Mar 2027

Gift Motupa gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

The dugout29 Mar 2027

Rivaldo Coetzee knocks on the manager's door

“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Ajax Cape Town, and both men came out saying it was fine.

The dugout29 Mar 2027

Boikanyo Komane has been promised minutes

A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Boikanyo Komane has written the date down.

Squad29 Mar 2027

The training reports on Hlompho Mabunda are not good

A bad Saturday is forgiven; a bad Tuesday is chosen. Standards have slipped and in a building where everybody watches everybody, it has been noticed.

In brief

30 Edition

The Ajax Cape Town Post

22 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Player ratings22 Feb 2027

Both of them Mandla Hlatshwayo's — 8.22

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.22, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Player ratings22 Feb 2027

Morgan Mkhize was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 28. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.

Player ratings22 Feb 2027

Luke Baartman, 20, steals the show — 7.78

Marked 7.78 at 20, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.

Match20 Feb 2027

The wait goes on for Ajax Cape Town

4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.

Squad22 Feb 2027

Thulani Jali in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ajax Cape Town this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Match20 Feb 2027

Mamelodi Sundowns take the points off Ajax Cape Town

Beaten 3‑4, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

Match20 Feb 2027

Mandla Hlatshwayo among the goals in a wild afternoon

7 goals in one match, Mandla Hlatshwayo on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Ajax Cape Town and Mamelodi Sundowns.

Squad22 Feb 2027

A row about effort at Ajax Cape Town

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rivaldo Coetzee was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The terraces22 Feb 2027

The crowd has taken to Mandla Hlatshwayo

At 16 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.

In brief