Marked for Teboho Zwane
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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Sep 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Ajax Cape Town have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Market7 Sep 2026
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Ajax Cape Town, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 12 signed and 1 gone
That is the business done at Ajax Cape Town until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Ngcebo Nala gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Ngcebo Nala has just signed for Ajax Cape Town, and for once the answer mattered.
Market7 Sep 2026
The offer from Platinum Stars for Mandla Furman was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Boca Juniors keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Thulani Dolly 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.
Squad7 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.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Lebogang Mphela, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market24 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.
Market24 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
A move Samkelo Mzolo would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Samkelo Mzolo is living that version at Ajax Cape Town, and it tends to show in the first month.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad24 Aug 2026
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.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Orlando Pirates wanted more than $170.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Market24 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about Sifiso Mphela again, and this time the name on the line is Lugano. Ajax Cape Town are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad24 Aug 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.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market17 Aug 2026
Itumeleng Williams has left for Lugano in a $9.2M deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $40.0K — a club that wants Jordan Allies enough to be asked twice.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Thulani Dolly 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.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
The offer went to Orlando Pirates this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Ajax Cape Town have gone to University of Pretoria with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Teboho Zwane was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Mamelodi Sundowns have kept their man, and Ajax Cape Town go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad17 Aug 2026
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.