Black Leopards Relegated: Namibian Duo Faces Uncertain Future

Relegation has caught up with Black Leopards again – and this time, there is no escape route. Namibian internationals Bethuel Muzeu and Loydt Kazapua will follow the Limpopo club into the Safa ABC Motsepe League after their fate in the Motsepe Foundation Championship was sealed with a game to spare.

The confirmation came on Sunday, in the strangest of ways: on the back of a win.

Leopards beat Venda Football Club 2-1 to move to 28 points, but the result only delayed the inevitable on the day, not the outcome of the season. Even if they win their final fixture, they cannot reach the 32-point mark required to survive, leaving them stranded below the University of Pretoria and condemned to the drop alongside provincial rivals Baroka.

Muzeu's Journey

For Muzeu, the pain cuts especially deep. This is his second relegation with the club in the National First Division. Leopards went down in 2023, only to buy the NFD status of Cape Town All Stars and cling onto their place in the league. The reset never truly arrived.

The 26-year-old striker has tried to drag them forward. He sits on eight league goals this season, a steady return in a struggling side. It follows campaigns of 12 goals in 2024 and 17 in 2025, underlining why this fourth season in Thohoyandou was supposed to be about pushing up the table, not tumbling out of it.

His story mirrors the team’s: bright early, then slowly dimming. Muzeu started the season sharply, most of his goals coming in the first half of the campaign. As Leopards’ problems deepened, the service dried up, and so did the goals.

Kazapua's Experience

At the other end of the pitch, Kazapua’s year has been shaped as much by paperwork as by performances.

The 37-year-old Namibian goalkeeper joined Leopards on a free transfer at the start of the season, signing a two-year deal after leaving Sekhukhune United in the Premiership. He was meant to bring experience and calm to a fragile defence. Instead, he watched from the sidelines as a transfer ban ripped the squad apart.

Leopards began the campaign unable to register enough players – not even a goalkeeper. In their opening match they lined up with only 10 men. For the first three games, defender and captain Thendo Mukumela pulled on the gloves and stood in goal, a symbol of a club fighting fires with bare hands.

Kazapua was already in the building, but barred from the pitch. By the time the ban was lifted and he could finally be registered, Leopards were already buried deep in the relegation zone. He eventually established himself as first-choice keeper and enjoyed a run of games, yet the damage from those chaotic early weeks never truly healed.

Coaching Instability

Instability in the dugout only added to the turmoil. The club reshuffled its technical team three times during the season. Joel Masutha started the campaign but left in November. Mabuti Khenyeza came in, lasted just 10 matches, and departed, leaving Leopards searching for answers as the fixtures ran out.

The table tells the story of a team that never recovered from its own off-field missteps. While Leopards and Baroka slide into the Safa ABC Motsepe League, other Namibians in the division look upward, not down.

Highbury FC, featuring Namibians Ndisiro Kamaijanda and Ngero Katua, sit in sixth place and have quietly built a solid campaign. Cape Town City FC – with Prins Tjiueza involved – are third on the log, level on points with fourth and still locked in a fierce push for a promotion play-off spot.

For Muzeu and Kazapua, the contrast is stark. Their season now winds down to a dead rubber: a final home outing against eighth-placed Lerumo Lions on Sunday, 17 May at 15h00. The points won’t change their destiny.

What that afternoon might change, though, is the next chapter – for two Namibian internationals who must now decide whether to fight for a fallen giant in the third tier, or chase their ambitions higher up the South African ladder.