Marked for Thulani Mkhize
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Oct 2026
Itumeleng Khune 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Morgan Mothiba and Ajax Cape Town agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Ajax Cape Town training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Riyaaz Koopstadt 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.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Ajax Cape Town. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match3 Oct 2026
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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Itumeleng Khune 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” May Mahlangu and Ajax Cape Town agree another 1 years.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Ajax Cape Town training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Teboho Zwane 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.
Match3 Oct 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
No place for May Mahlangu in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Ajax Cape Town are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Market5 Oct 2026
May Mahlangu is 37 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 26. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Itumeleng Khune and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Erick Dolly is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Teboho Zwane 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.
Match26 Sep 2026
A point taken on 87 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“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.
Match26 Sep 2026
It needed Thulani Mkhize to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Black Aces, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Ramahlwe Khune after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Squad28 Sep 2026
The first one is the one every signing is asked about until it arrives. It has arrived, and he can stop being asked.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match9 Sep 2026
Free State Stars are out and Ajax Cape Town go through, 1‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Match9 Sep 2026
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Ajax Cape Town scored in the 95th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
A hand in 2 of them from Itumeleng Khune — 7.66
Marked 7.66. There is a kind of forward whose value only shows up when you count what he was involved in rather than what he finished, and this is the day that argument makes itself.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Teboho Zwane 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
1‑2 to Maritzburg United, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Thulani Mkhize 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.
The terraces14 Sep 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Samkelo Dlamuka has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Ronwen Zwane
“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 dugout14 Sep 2026
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 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Ramahlwe Khune to a room that had heard them before.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market31 Aug 2026
No footballer has ever cost this club more, and the number will be read out every time he misplaces a pass for the next two years.
Market31 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Rivaldo Modiba, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.14
A mark of 8.14 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Market31 Aug 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Belgrano is saying, and nobody at Ajax Cape Town is enjoying the guessing.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Thulani Dolly and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Sifiso 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.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Ajax Cape Town offered $38.0K; University of Pretoria said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
The terraces31 Aug 2026
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Camagu Mdevulana from University of Pretoria for $840.0K, and a ticket office having a very good morning.