The blue half of Gaborone has seen plenty of drama before, but rarely this much of it at once. Township Rollers, the 16-time Botswana Premier League champions known across southern Africa as Popa or Mapalastina, are staring down the barrel of two simultaneous FIFA disputes involving South African players; one that has already resulted in a registration ban, and another that could deepen the crisis before the month is out.
The first case involves Thabiso Mokenkoane, a 33-year-old defender from the Free State who once wore the colours of the University of Pretoria. Mokenkoane had his contract terminated by Rollers last season. He challenged the decision, sought help from the Footballers Union of South Africa, and ultimately took the matter to FIFA when the club refused to cooperate.
FIFA ruled in Mokenkoane’s favour last year, ordering Rollers to pay approximately R98,000 within 45 days or face consequences. The club did not pay. Now, those consequences have arrived: a registration ban prohibiting Rollers from signing or registering new players; both domestically and internationally; for up to three consecutive registration periods, unless the outstanding amount is settled.
“Thabiso Mokenkoane had his contract terminated by Township Rollers last season, and he challenged the decision,” said Taelo Motloung, the secretary-general of the Footballers Union of South Africa, known as FUSA. “He came to FUSA for assistance, and we were keen to help. We wrote a letter of demand to the club requesting them to pay what was due to the player, but we received no co-operation. We ended up taking the matter to FIFA, and FIFA ruled in favour of the player. The club hasn’t yet paid and now FIFA has ruled that they be banned from signing and registering new players with their league.”
FIFA has also formally requested the Botswana Football Association to immediately implement the national-level registration ban, according to documents seen by reporters – a step that would make the restriction enforceable across all domestic competitions.
Even as the club digests that ruling, a second threat is gathering force.
Thabo Rakhale, the former Orlando Pirates winger who became a fan favourite at Rollers after joining the club in 2023, has also reported the club to FUSA over unpaid salaries and an unpaid signing-on fee. The 36-year-old, who is back in South Africa recovering from a torn Achilles tendon, has further accused the club of failing to provide medical attention after his injury.
“I’m running with the matter of Thabo Rakhale against Township Rollers due to unpaid salaries and unpaid signing-on fees,” Motloung is quoted in SA publications. “He also got injured, and they didn’t bother to take him to the hospital. The club never attended to his injury even though they were advised to do so by the hospital.”
FUSA has served a letter of demand giving Rollers 10 days to settle. If the club fails to act, the union says it will file a formal complaint with FIFA; a pathway that could result in yet another registration ban layered on top of the existing one.
A Ban that already has teeth
The Mokenkoane ban is not Rollers’ first encounter with FIFA’s disciplinary machinery. The club has been labouring under a separate transfer ban imposed after failing to pay former head coach Abdelaziz Karkache – a debt reported to be part of a wider financial hole approaching P3 million.
That earlier ban, imposed in October 2025, has already hampered the club’s ability to reinforce its squad. Now, with the Mokenkoane ruling adding a new layer of restriction, and the Rakhale matter potentially adding a third, Rollers face the prospect of being unable to register any new players for the foreseeable future; a crippling penalty for any club, but especially acute for one trying to rebuild.
How Rollers got here
The roots of the current crisis stretch back years. For much of the past decade, the club’s fortunes have been tied to the involvement, and withdrawal, of wealthy backers. Jagdish Shah, the longtime president and financier, departed in 2023 after a falling-out with the club’s committee over control of the entity. His exit left a vacuum.
In April 2024, Tendani Sebata, a Zimbabwean businessman based in South Africa, entered into a five-year partnership deal with Rollers, investing an estimated R30 million over roughly 10 months. He bought a luxury team coach, settled some outstanding debts, injected approximately 9.5 million rand into daily operations, and covered fuel, vehicles, kits, accommodation, training facilities, and media equipment. The women’s team began receiving stipends – a rarity in the league. For a brief, hopeful window, the club’s financial problems seemed to be receding.
Then Sebata walked away in April 2025, citing significant governance issues, regulatory non-compliance, and what he described as misrepresentation of the club’s ownership structure. He said he had been misled into believing he was acquiring an interest in the club, only to discover that the entity “Township Rollers Pty Ltd” still belonged to Shah.
The departure was devastating. By September 2025, players were boycotting training sessions over unpaid salaries. Later that month, they refused to play a league match against Calendar Stars – a fixture the club was forced to forfeit. In a public statement, Rollers apologised to league authorities, sponsors, and stakeholders, calling the occurrence “unfortunate and unprecedented.”
The new management that replaced Sebata’s operation, CAB Management, was due to take over the club’s operations by July 2025. It has so far failed to meet its financial obligations, according to multiple reports, leaving players once again waiting for wages that arrive late; or not at all. Long-serving goalkeeper Kabelo Dambe, a pillar of the Rollers side, officially parted ways with the club in August 2026, citing the financial strains.
The human cost
For Rakhale, the crisis is personal. When he spoke to reporters earlier this year, before the latest disputes became public, he recalled a match day when he and his teammates drove three hours under the Botswana sun to play a league game the same afternoon – a journey that would have been unnecessary at a well-run club with proper logistics.
“It was difficult, especially when playing away games,” Rakhale said. “We were getting salaries late, but that changed when Sebata came in. We were getting used to the fact that we would get our money late.”
That change, it turned out, was temporary. The Achilles injury that sidelined Rakhale this season was attended to promptly; but only because Sebata’s management was still in place at the time. Now, injured and without income, Rakhale says the club has not even covered the medical care he was promised.
For Mokenkoane, the path to justice has been long. A former University of Pretoria and African Warriors player who also featured for Eswatini giants Mbabane Highlanders in CAF Confederation Cup competition, he signed a contract with Rollers in good faith, only to see it terminated. FUSA says the club was unwilling to cooperate even after being presented with a demand letter, forcing the matter to FIFA’s adjudicatory system.
What comes next
The mathematics are straightforward, if not simple. Each unresolved FIFA dispute carries its own registration ban, and bans can stack. If Rollers fail to settle with Rakhale within the 10-day window FUSA has imposed, a third complaint could land on the desk of world football’s governing body.
Motloung, the FUSA secretary-general, was unequivocal about the union’s readiness to act. “If they fail, we will be taking the matter to FIFA,” he said.
The club’s new management now faces an unenviable set of choices: find the money to settle all outstanding claims and lift the bans; negotiate with FUSA and the players; or accept the consequences of being locked out of the transfer market for an extended period; a fate that could erode competitiveness and, in time, threaten the club’s very viability in the Botswana Premier League.
For a club that once dominated the league with three consecutive titles between 2016 and 2018, the current moment represents a stunning fall. Popa, once the swaggering kings of Botswana football, are learning the hard way that glory on the pitch means nothing if the bills go unpaid off it.
“This ruling from FIFA is one of many cases we’ve taken to them and successfully won,” Motloung said of the Mokenkoane decision. For the Footballers Union of South Africa, it is a record of vindication. For Township Rollers, it is a warning – and possibly, if nothing changes, a preview of more rulings to come.