Marked for Teboho Dala
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings29 Jan 2029
Successful dribbles: 27. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Transfer targets29 Jan 2029
Everything was agreed with University of Pretoria and then the doctor spoke. Polokwane City have walked away from a signing on the advice of somebody who never saw him play, which is how it is supposed to work.
The dugout29 Jan 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Polokwane City may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Transfer targets29 Jan 2029
Everything agreed with Platinum Stars, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad29 Jan 2029
Monty Batlhabane 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.
Transfer targets29 Jan 2029
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Maritzburg United have kept their man, and Polokwane City go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout29 Jan 2029
The manager makes an example of Malebogo Modise
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad29 Jan 2029
Sirgio Kammies 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.
Squad29 Jan 2029
Everybody at Polokwane City saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 34 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad9 Oct 2028
Monty Batlhabane 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.
Match7 Oct 2028
3 matches without a goal for Polokwane City
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Match7 Oct 2028
0‑1 to Chippa United, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad9 Oct 2028
Polokwane City are still strangers to each other
7 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout9 Oct 2028
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Rivaldo Vilakazi left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout9 Oct 2028
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
The dugout9 Oct 2028
“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 dugout9 Oct 2028
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Player ratings9 Oct 2028
Successful dribbles: 14. 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match30 Oct 2027
3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings1 Nov 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.02, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Luther Mokotjo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match30 Oct 2027
9 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
The terraces1 Nov 2027
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Nelson Ralenkoane 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.
Player ratings1 Nov 2027
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout1 Nov 2027
The manager makes an example of Thulani Mkhize
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout1 Nov 2027
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 3‑0, already talking about the next one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market26 Jul 2027
Jomo Cosmos come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Ajax Cape Town did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market26 Jul 2027
Only the photograph left for Ramahlwe Zwane
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ramahlwe Zwane will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ajax Cape Town the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
The clubs have shaken hands with University of Pretoria; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Squad26 Jul 2027
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.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kgwadi Molepo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad26 Jul 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Dean Manyama and Ajax Cape Town agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout26 Jul 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Moses Mphekgoane, and the manager let it.
The dugout26 Jul 2027
Manqoba Mlele 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 dugout26 Jul 2027
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Jul 2027
Luther Mokotjo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nelson Ralenkoane was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout12 Jul 2027
“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 dugout12 Jul 2027
Percy Mabunda asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout12 Jul 2027
Rivaldo Lorch has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Ajax Cape Town will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Market12 Jul 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Luther Mokotjo signs something — a contract at Ajax Cape Town or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market5 Jul 2027
Teboho Dala hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ajax Cape Town can pretend not to have heard.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Bongani Erasmus is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 17 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad5 Jul 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mnqobi Mzize and Ajax Cape Town agree another 4 years.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Ramahlwe Zwane and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Words at Ajax Cape Town training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kgwadi Molepo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Boardroom5 Jul 2027
9 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.