From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 39. 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
32 days out for Percy Grobler after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Bidvest Wits will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Bidvest Wits close the window on a squad of their own making
2 in and 0 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Santos keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ajax Cape Town have kept their man, and Bidvest Wits go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Reyaad Pieterse was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match30 Jan 2027
3 matches without a goal for Bidvest Wits
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.
Match30 Jan 2027
0‑1 to SuperSport United, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Gopolang Taunyane and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad25 Jan 2027
40 days out for Percy Grobler after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Bidvest Wits will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match25 Jan 2027
Position 14, 21 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 26. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Market25 Jan 2027
Bayanda Zulu 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 Bidvest Wits can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
The deal with Santos is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Reyaad Pieterse and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match23 Jan 2027
0‑1 to Ajax Cape Town, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kamohelo Mokotjo, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 44. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad18 Jan 2027
48 days out for Percy Grobler after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Bidvest Wits will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
The clubs have shaken hands with Ajax Cape Town; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
Luther Modiba: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Bidvest Wits have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Atlético Mineiro keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Deano Van Rooyen 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 targets18 Jan 2027
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.
Match16 Jan 2027
0‑1 to Golden Arrows, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad11 Jan 2027
56 days out for Percy Grobler after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Bidvest Wits will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market11 Jan 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and KCB waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Bidvest Wits is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Match9 Jan 2027
Nobody wants to play Bidvest Wits right now
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 22. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Reyaad Pieterse 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 targets11 Jan 2027
Bidvest Wits asked and Estoril Praia said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Marked 8.03 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The dugout11 Jan 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad4 Jan 2027
Percy Grobler breaks a bone — 63 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 63 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad4 Jan 2027
31 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad4 Jan 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 Bidvest Wits this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Jan 2027
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.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
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.
The terraces4 Jan 2027
At 14 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.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market4 Jan 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Thamsanqa Zungu has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market4 Jan 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Sifiso Manyama has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Dec 2026
A fracture rules Percy Grobler out for 71 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Bidvest Wits will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match28 Dec 2026
15 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 26. 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.
Market28 Dec 2026
Bayanda Zulu 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 Bidvest Wits can pretend not to have heard.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Bidvest Wits training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rivaldo Coetzee 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.
Squad28 Dec 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 Bidvest Wits this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Looking ahead28 Dec 2026
Platinum Stars next, and both sides can do the sum. Win and the table looks different; lose and it looks the way everybody has been fearing.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Marked 7.56 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Bidvest Wits had the best player on the pitch.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Dec 2026
78 days out for Percy Grobler after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Bidvest Wits will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 34. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Bidvest Wits may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
The dugout21 Dec 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Werner Oosthuizen 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 dugout21 Dec 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Hlompho Modiba after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Sthembiso Hlophe 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 dugout21 Dec 2026
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Bidvest Wits will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Dec 2026
86 days out for Percy Grobler after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Bidvest Wits will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match12 Dec 2026
Beaten 0‑3 by Orlando Pirates, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Reyaad Pieterse was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom14 Dec 2026
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Squad14 Dec 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Oratile Rantasi and Bidvest Wits agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad14 Dec 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 Bidvest Wits this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Rhulani Manzini trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Dec 2026
A fracture rules Percy Grobler out for 94 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Bidvest Wits will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 11 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match2 Dec 2026
SuperSport United ended it 0‑4. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
The terraces7 Dec 2026
0-4, and long before the end the away end had switched from encouragement to something considerably more pointed. Nobody rings a phone-in about losing narrowly.
Match5 Dec 2026
10 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Jomo Cosmos were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Squad7 Dec 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 Bidvest Wits this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
“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.
Match5 Dec 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Kagiso Malinga. 1‑0 against Jomo Cosmos, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad30 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Percy Grobler out for 101 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Bidvest Wits will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match28 Nov 2026
No end in sight to Bidvest Wits's wait for a win
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Bidvest Wits has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 33. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match30 Nov 2026
Every point is an argument now for Bidvest Wits
Position 14 and 8 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Market30 Nov 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 Bidvest Wits, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad30 Nov 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 Bidvest Wits this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Looking ahead30 Nov 2026
Two sides from the bottom of the table, three points, and an afternoon that will be described afterwards as a relegation decider by whoever loses it.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match21 Nov 2026
Chastening afternoon for Bidvest Wits
A 0‑4 beating by Black Aces was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Match21 Nov 2026
8 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Happy Mashiane pulls a muscle — 14 days out
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Happy Mashiane 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.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Boardroom23 Nov 2026
Nobody left the Bidvest Wits dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑4, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dillan Solomons, and the manager let it.
Squad23 Nov 2026
1 saves does not settle the argument about whose fault it was, and the argument will run all week. Goalkeepers carry these scorelines whoever caused them.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 32. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match14 Nov 2026
7 matches without a win for Bidvest Wits
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Bidvest Wits are no longer polite ones.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Reyaad Pieterse 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
A move Thuto Sesipi 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. Thuto Sesipi is living that version at Bidvest Wits, and it tends to show in the first month.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ntsikelelo Nyauza, and the manager let it.
Match16 Nov 2026
Half the programme played, position 14, 8 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
Squad16 Nov 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Thuto Sesipi and Bidvest Wits agree another 3 years.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Something was said to Ntsikelelo Nyauza and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Match14 Nov 2026
A 1‑1 draw with Maritzburg United leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 40. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match7 Nov 2026
6 matches without a win for Bidvest Wits
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Bidvest Wits are no longer polite ones.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Bidvest Wits have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Happy Mashiane and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad9 Nov 2026
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 15 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kamohelo Mokotjo, and the manager let it.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Bidvest Wits told Siyethemba Sithebe something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Too much change too quickly at Bidvest Wits
10 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 dugout9 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Hlompho Modiba chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match2 Nov 2026
Every point is an argument now for Bidvest Wits
Position 14 and 6 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Match31 Oct 2026
No end in sight to Bidvest Wits's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Bidvest Wits has to find a result from somewhere.
Market2 Nov 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 Bidvest Wits, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match31 Oct 2026
Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Marked 8.36 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Roscoe Pietersen, and the manager let it.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Hlompho Modiba after 2‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Werner Oosthuizen and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad26 Oct 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 12 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match24 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
The medical room confirms 15 days on the sidelines for Kamohelo Mokotjo, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Match24 Oct 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Hlompho Modiba after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Squad26 Oct 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Bukho Mkalipi and Bidvest Wits agree another 3 years.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sello Jaftha, and the manager let it.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Bukho Mkalipi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Reyaad Pieterse 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.
Match17 Oct 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout19 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.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Tumiso Mogakwe 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.
Looking ahead19 Oct 2026
A test against the best for Bidvest Wits
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Mamelodi Sundowns.
Squad19 Oct 2026
The formation has left Bukho Mkalipi behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Bidvest Wits will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Richard Matloga dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 27. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad12 Oct 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 Bidvest Wits this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Oct 2026
A move Bukho Mkalipi 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. Bukho Mkalipi is living that version at Bidvest Wits, and it tends to show in the first month.
Match10 Oct 2026
A point taken on 93 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
30 new faces, and Bidvest Wits are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Bukho Mkalipi and Bidvest Wits agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Match10 Oct 2026
A 1‑1 draw with Ajax Cape Town leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“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 dugout12 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Hlompho Modiba was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Bidvest Wits dressing room was either.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match5 Oct 2026
5 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market5 Oct 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 Bidvest Wits, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A muscle injury sidelines Deano Van Rooyen for 14 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Bidvest Wits will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad5 Oct 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 Bidvest Wits this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match3 Oct 2026
Golden Arrows left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. 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.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kamohelo Mokotjo, and the manager let it.
The dugout5 Oct 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 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Hlompho Modiba to a room that had heard them before.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Sthembiso Hlophe 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 30. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Rhulani Manzini, 38, rolls back the years — 7.86
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.86 at 38, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Reyaad Pieterse 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.
Match26 Sep 2026
It finished 2‑0, and it was Kagiso Malinga’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Bidvest Wits.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Kagiso Malinga was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.16. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Hlompho Modiba could afford to be generous.
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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Bidvest Wits training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sthembiso Hlophe 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 dugout28 Sep 2026
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 32. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Happy Mashiane 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 dugout21 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.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Siyethemba Sithebe trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
The formation has left Tumiso Mogakwe behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Bidvest Wits will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Match19 Sep 2026
Point won or two lost for Bidvest Wits?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Platinum Stars? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Squad21 Sep 2026
At 30 he has taken a place rather than been given one, and somebody else has to find something to say about it. Bidvest Wits have a decision that made itself.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match9 Sep 2026
A 1‑0 win over Polokwane City, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
Polokwane City wanted more than $83.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Bidvest Wits training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Reyaad Pieterse 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.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
Bidvest Wits asked and Oldham Athletic said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“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.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Marked 7.79. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Too much change too quickly at Bidvest Wits
29 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.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Defensive actions: 15. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad14 Sep 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 Bidvest Wits this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match5 Sep 2026
5 matches without a win for Bidvest Wits
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Bidvest Wits are no longer polite ones.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Bidvest Wits close the window on a squad of their own making
42 in and 0 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Market7 Sep 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.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $85.0K — a club that wants Kgaogelo Ramushu enough to be asked twice.
Market7 Sep 2026
The chase for Edward Maova ended with $420.0K changing hands and Golden Arrows out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Bidvest Wits have gone to Polokwane City 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Bayanda Zulu gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Bayanda Zulu has just signed for Bidvest Wits, and for once the answer mattered.
The terraces7 Sep 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: Edward Maova from Golden Arrows for $420.0K, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Reyaad Pieterse was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad31 Aug 2026
9 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Temperley keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Match29 Aug 2026
4 matches without a win for Bidvest Wits
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Bidvest Wits are no longer polite ones.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Reyaad Pieterse 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Werner Oosthuizen has just signed for Bidvest Wits, and for once the answer mattered.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Bidvest Wits asked and Almirante Brown said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match29 Aug 2026
0‑1 to Orlando Pirates, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad31 Aug 2026
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Bidvest Wits are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. 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
Crisis
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 48. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
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.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
The deal with University of Pretoria is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Bidvest Wits asked and Platinum Stars said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match22 Aug 2026
Sipho Mbule scored, and precious little else went right: 2‑3 to Jomo Cosmos, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
The dugout24 Aug 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.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 2‑3, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
A loan move for Lucas Gaona is in the works
Bidvest Wits have made the call to Temperley. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad17 Aug 2026
10 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Match15 Aug 2026
1‑4 to Bloemfontein Celtic, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
SuperSport United wanted more than $2.5M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Bidvest Wits asked and SuperSport United said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Happy Mashiane and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
Nobody left the Bidvest Wits dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout17 Aug 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 1‑4 defeat, delivered by Hlompho Modiba to a room that had heard them before.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
A loan move for Risen Albert is in the works
Bidvest Wits have made the call to University of Pretoria. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Gimnasia y Esgrima have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Bidvest Wits have gone to SuperSport United 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Reyaad Pieterse 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 targets10 Aug 2026
Bidvest Wits asked and Junior said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Ramahlwe Grobler is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Lebogang Williams has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Evidence Furman has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Luther Modiba is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
A performance of 8.22 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
A move Reyaad Pieterse 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. Reyaad Pieterse is living that version at Bidvest Wits, and it tends to show in the first month.
Market3 Aug 2026
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
Squad3 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 Bidvest Wits this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Aug 2026
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Bidvest Wits know which stage they are at.
Market3 Aug 2026
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Bidvest Wits will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Kaizer Chiefs have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan move for Keagan Phiri is in the works
Bidvest Wits have made the call to Ajax Cape Town. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Market3 Aug 2026
Siyabonga Buda is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Bidvest Wits has been clear about where Siyabonga Buda stands, which is more than many ever get.