This past long weekend was never going to be ordinary. It was a weekend that demanded answers, forced resolutions, and brought uncomfortable conversations to the surface. Two matches stood before us, not just as fixtures, but as defining moments that would either steady the organisation or expose the cracks we’ve been avoiding.
Saturday: A Warning Before the Storm
As always, the weekend began with training, but instead of setting the tone for a strong run of fixtures, it exposed the deeper issues we’ve been carrying, with only four players arriving. Yet even in that disappointment, the captain stood tall, rallying the few who were present, pushing them to train, and refusing to let the moment collapse, a small act, but a commendable one, and a reminder of what leadership looks like when everything else around you is falling apart.
Sunday: A result that lifted the points, but not the performance.
We travelled to face Fleurhof Rangers, a side that started the match a man short, and while on paper it should have been straightforward, in reality it was anything but. We scraped a 3–2 win, collecting three points, with Siphamandla earning a well‑deserved Man of the Match, yet even in victory the performance raised more questions than answers, a team with numerical advantage should dominate, not survive, and although the result was positive, the performance was a warning.
Tuesday: The Catch‑Up Match That Exposed Everything
Then came the much‑debated catch‑up match against OG Harmony, who arrived 44 minutes late, yet for the first time in two games we finally faced a side that could field a full team of 11 players; despite that relief, the match exposed our current state as we fell to a 1–0 defeat, a result that spoke louder than any debate surrounding the fixture itself.
A result that didn’t just sting, it revealed the true state of the team. A state the fans have been speaking about for weeks. A state the Executive had promised to address in a mid‑year review during the Anual General Meeting. A state that could no longer be ignored.
The Real Match: The Organisation vs. The Truth
After the final whistle, the biggest match of the day began, not on the pitch, but in the meeting that followed, where frustrated fans demanded accountability, clarity, and honesty, with some even calling for heads to roll, their concerns were justified, the moment for truth had finally arrived.
Every Executive member spoke. What became clear was that the Executive was deeply unhappy with the Chairman, accusing him of “gloating” about his contributions, even calling his list of achievements a “Bible,” something they found disrespectful and self‑serving. In hindsight, the irony is that by calling it a “Bible,” they were unknowingly blessing the very achievements they were criticising.
One Executive member questioned how three Executive members could all be wrong while only the Chairman was right, adding sharply: “Where is the logic in that ratio.”
The fans added their voices too, and they did not mince their words. One supporter stood up and spoke with a clarity that cut through the tension in the room, saying: “Chairman, you are being set up for failure. The people around you are not active, we don’t see them!”
His words echoed the frustration many had been carrying for months, the sense that the leadership structure was uneven, that responsibility was falling on one pair of shoulders while others remained invisible, and that the team was paying the price for that imbalance. It was a moment that captured the mood of the community, honest, unfiltered, and demanding change.
Then the Chairman spoke…
He then expressed his own frustrations, laying bare issues that had been simmering beneath the surface for far too long. He spoke about Executive members who were unwilling to meet their financial obligations, an administration that felt “captured” by players, and the double standards that had slowly eroded discipline.
He highlighted late‑night escapades involving players together with Executive members, a troubling dynamic that blurred boundaries and fed into deeper behavioural problems, including players arriving intoxicated for matches and training sessions collapsing due to poor commitment and discipline. It was a candid account of a structure that had stopped functioning, and a leadership environment that had become impossible to manage.
He ended with a declaration that shifted the atmosphere completely: the structure had failed, he could no longer lead within it, and it had to be dissolved without delay.
The Vote: The Community Decides
A poll was put to the people: Dissolve or Fix.
The result was unanimous. Dissolve.
For the first time, the ratio that made sense. The community, the heartbeat of this club, agreed that the structure had failed and needed to be rebuilt from the ground up.
What Comes Next
Nominations for a new Executive will open soon, and even those who were part of the dissolved structure may stand again, but this time, the process will be different. Yes, the community chose the leadership before, but this moment carries a deeper weight, it comes after hard truths, open confrontation, and a collective decision to start afresh.
This time, the community isn’t just choosing, it is reclaiming the direction of the club. We have always been known as Team Yomphakathi, but now umphakathi is not just supporting from the sidelines, it is stepping forward to lead, guide, and rebuild.
The weekend was painful, revealing, and necessary. It forced us to confront the truth, choose a new path, and grow into the team we are meant to be.
Obaba Babo.
