Black Leopards Confirm Relegation – Namibia's Duo Experience Heartbreak

The 2-1 win should have felt like a lifeline. Instead, it was a full stop.

Black Leopards beat Venda Football Club on Sunday, dragged themselves up to 28 points with one game to play, and still walked off the pitch knowing the maths had already killed them. They cannot get to 32 points, the mark needed to survive. Even if University of Pretoria stumble on the final day, it will not matter.

Relegation confirmed. Again.

For Namibian pair Bethuel Muzeu and Loydt Kazapua, the drop from the Motsepe Foundation Championship is a brutal end to a season that never really escaped crisis mode.

Muzeu’s goals, Leopards’ spiral

This is Muzeu’s second relegation with Leopards in 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. That escape only delayed the fall.

The 26-year-old striker has done his part in front of goal. Eight league goals this season, most of them coming in a strong first half of the campaign when he looked set for a big year. This is his fourth season at the club, after returns of 12 goals in 2024 and 17 in 2025, numbers that made him one of Leopards’ few consistent attacking threats.

But as the team’s season began to unravel, so did his scoring rhythm. The supply dried up, the pressure mounted, and the goals slowed as Leopards sank deeper into the relegation zone.

Kazapua arrives, but too late

At the other end of the pitch, 37-year-old Namibian goalkeeper Loydt Kazapua walked into chaos.

He joined 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 looked a smart move for both sides: experience for a club in transition, game time for a seasoned international.

Then came the transfer ban.

Leopards were hit hard, unable to register enough players – including a goalkeeper. The situation was so dire that they kicked off the campaign with 10 men in their opening match. Captain and defender Thendo Mukumela had to pull on the gloves and play in goal for the first three fixtures.

Kazapua was there, but not on the team sheet. Signed, training, waiting – and powerless.

By the time the ban was lifted and he could finally be registered, Leopards had already sunk deep into trouble. The damage was done early, and the climb out proved too steep. Kazapua eventually established himself as first-choice goalkeeper and enjoyed a steady run of games, yet the results refused to follow.

Chaos in the dugout

Instability off the pitch matched the struggle on it.

The club reshuffled its technical team three times during the campaign. Joel Masutha started the season in charge but departed in November. His replacement, Mabuti Khenyeza, lasted only 10 matches before another change.

The constant churn on the bench mirrored the team’s form: short bursts of hope, swallowed by long stretches of frustration.

Sunday’s win over Venda showed there was still fight left in the squad, but it arrived too late to change the story of their season.

Limpopo pain, Namibian presence

Leopards are not alone in their fall. Fellow Limpopo side Baroka have also dropped into the Safa ABC Motsepe League, underlining a grim year for the province’s traditional campaigners.

For Namibia, the division still carries a strong presence despite Leopards’ relegation. In the same league, Ndisiro Kamaijanda and Ngero Katua are part of a Highbury FC side sitting sixth, while Prins Tjiueza’s Cape Town City FC occupy third place, level on points with fourth as they push for a promotion play-off spot.

Their stories move in the opposite direction to Muzeu and Kazapua’s – upward, hopeful, still in the fight.

One more game, no more lifelines

Black Leopards will close their season against eighth-placed Lerumo Lions on Sunday, 17 May at 15h00. The result will not change their fate, but it will say something about their response.

For Muzeu, it is another relegation on his record despite a respectable goal return. For Kazapua, it is a reminder that timing in football can be as cruel as any opponent.

The league table is final. The questions now shift to something else: who stays, who goes, and who is willing to try to drag Black Leopards back from the third tier.