Black Leopards Relegated: Namibian Duo Faces Consequences

Relegation has finally caught up with Black Leopards, and with it two Namibian internationals have been dragged under.

On Sunday, the club’s fate in the Motsepe Foundation Championship was sealed for good. The irony? It happened on the same day they won.

A 2-1 victory over Venda Football Club pushed Leopards to 28 points with one game to play. It was a spirited result, the kind of performance that usually hints at a late escape. But the mathematics offered no comfort. Even if the University of Pretoria slip in their final fixture, Leopards cannot reach the 32-point mark required to survive.

The fall sends them down alongside provincial neighbours Baroka, both Limpopo sides now condemned to life in the Safa ABC Motsepe League.

Muzeu’s goals, Leopards’ pain

For Bethuel Muzeu, this is a grimly familiar feeling.

The Namibian striker has now been relegated twice with Black Leopards from the National First Division. The club went down in 2023, only to buy the NFD status of Cape Town All Stars and cling to their place in the league. The reprieve merely delayed the inevitable.

Muzeu, 26, has done his part. He sits on eight league goals this season, a consistent threat in a team constantly fighting uphill. This is his fourth season at the club, a period in which he has been one of their few reliable attacking outlets. His previous campaigns underline that: 12 goals in 2024, 17 in 2025.

He started this season in that same ruthless groove, striking regularly in the first half of the campaign. Then the momentum stalled. As Leopards’ problems deepened, the service dried up and so did the goals.

The team’s collapse has not been a story of one misfiring forward. It has been systemic.

Chaos before a ball was kicked

Leopards’ season was compromised long before the relegation scrap turned desperate.

A transfer ban crippled the club at the start of the campaign. They could not register enough players. They did not even have a recognised goalkeeper available for selection.

The consequences were brutal. In their opening match, Leopards lined up with only 10 men. Defender and captain Thendo Mukumela was forced to pull on the gloves, and he remained in goal for the first three matches. Those early weeks set the tone: a squad patched together, constantly improvising, always chasing.

By the time the ban was finally lifted, Leopards were already sunk deep in the relegation zone, trying to climb out of a hole they had dug without ever truly having a full squad.

Kazapua arrives, but too late

In the middle of that chaos stood another Namibian, goalkeeper Loydt Kazapua.

The 37-year-old joined Black Leopards at the start of the season on a free transfer, signing a two-year deal after leaving Sekhukhune United in the Premiership. On paper, it was a smart move: an experienced international to steady a fragile defence.

In reality, he could only watch and wait.

Because of the transfer ban, Kazapua could not be registered in time for the start of the campaign. Leopards stumbled through those early fixtures without him, dropping points they could never recover.

When the paperwork finally cleared, Kazapua quickly claimed the No 1 shirt and became first choice. He enjoyed a proper run of games, brought some stability, and gave the team a presence at the back they had sorely missed.

The damage, though, was already done. Results refused to turn often enough, and every minor revival was dragged back down by the weight of those early setbacks.

A bench in constant motion

Instability did not stop with the playing squad. It spread to the technical area.

Black Leopards reshuffled their coaching staff three times during the season. Joel Masutha started the campaign, but by November he was gone. Mabuti Khenyeza stepped in and lasted only 10 matches before another change followed.

Each new voice brought fresh ideas, new systems, different demands. For a squad already scrambling to catch up, that churn only added to the confusion. Consistency, the lifeblood of any survival fight, never arrived.

Namibians elsewhere, pushing higher

While Muzeu and Kazapua wrestled with a doomed campaign, other Namibians in the same division have been chasing very different ambitions.

At Highbury FC, Ndisiro Kamaijanda and Ngero Katua are part of a side sitting sixth, safely in mid-table and looking up rather than down. Higher still, Prins Tjiueza’s Cape Town City FC are third, level on points with fourth place as they continue their push for a play-off spot.

Their stories underline the contrast. In one corner of the division, Namibian players are part of promotion dreams. In another, two of their countrymen have just watched the trapdoor swing open beneath them.

One more game, then the reset

For Black Leopards, there is still one match left on the schedule: a home date with eighth-placed Lerumo Lions on Sunday, 17 May at 15h00.

On paper, it is a dead rubber. The table will not shift enough to save them. Yet for players like Muzeu and Kazapua, it is something else entirely – a final chance to show their worth before the dust settles and decisions are made about futures, contracts, and careers.

Leopards have survived off the field before, buying their way back into the division after relegation. This time, the questions run deeper. Is there another escape route, or does this drop finally force a complete reset in Limpopo?