With most of the teams affiliated to the Motsepe Foundation Championship League left with 12 matches before the end of the season, a dark cloud of uncertainty is still hanging over Black Leopards FC. Hiring and firing coaching personnel over the past six months has not changed the team’s fortunes.
Black Leopards started the season with Joel Masutha as head coach. Masutha’s relationship with the club turned sour following the team’s poor run in the first six games, prompting the club to terminate his contract. The Prophet, as he is widely known, was replaced by Mr Mabhuti Khenyeza in November.
Like Masutha, Khenyeza could not change the team’s fortunes. Khenyeza’s marriage with Lidoda Duvha ended abruptly last week. He was last seen on the team’s technical bench in their home match against Baroka FC at Thohoyandou Stadium on Sunday, 1 February.
Whether the former Casric Stars mentor, Sundra Govinder, and Duncan Lechesa, who took over from Khenyeza on Monday this week, will manage to change the team’s fortunes remains to be seen.
The chairman of Black Leopards, Tshifhiwa Thidiela, is optimistic that the appointment of Govinder and Lechesa as co-coaches will provide a solution to the team’s poor performance. Expressing his optimism, Thidiela said a combination of Sundra and Lechesa will soon take the team out of the relegation zone. Black Leopards are currently bottom of the log with 12 points.
Thidiela appealed to supporters to check the league log after five matches. Black Leopards’ five upcoming fixtures are Hungry Lions (home), Midlands Wanderers (away), Leicesterford City (home), Highbury (away) and Cape Town City (away).