Black Leopards back in South African professional football

Black Leopards are back in the South African professional football set-up after their relegation from the Motsepe Foundation Championship (MFC) at the end of last season.  

The Thidiela brothers bought the MFC status of All Stars to revive Lidoda Duvha, who finished last season at the bottom of the log table.  

Confirming the news of their return to the professional set-up, chairperson Tshifhiwa Thidiela said there will be a lot of changes to the side.  

The club is now under the ownership of David Thidiela’s sons Tshifhiwa, Rendani, Fulufhelo and Tendani. 

Tshifhiwa said his father and founder of the club informed the family about his intention to retire from football, but they convinced him to stay on as the president of the club.  

“We had to sit and beg our father, who because of his age was looking at saying he wants to retire,” Tshifhiwa said.  

“We had to beg him and say you know, for us, Black Leopards are not Black Leopards without him, and it is where it is because of him.  

“We have requested him and he has agreed to be the president of Black Leopards.  

“Because of the successes he amassed with Black Leopards, we felt, as his children, we still need his guidance,” he said.  

“It’s the Thidiela sons who have purchased a new status of Cape Town All Stars and we also managed to get permission to use the name Black Leopards.”  

Stars had rebranded after their move from Cape Town to Gauteng and did well in the previous campaign where they finished fourth on the second tier’s log table campaigning as All Stars.  

Tshifhiwa said they didn’t arrive at the decision of buying their way back to the MFC easily as the family was divided, bearing in mind the high costs of running a football club in South Africa.  

“For us, as a family, it was deliberation and big arguments that, I think, went on for about two months, where we wanted to find a way to say, do we find someone who will be able to carry on the legacy?” Tshifhiwa said.  

“Or is there something we as a family can still do. We agreed that let’s continue to make the contribution we do in the community.  

“The decision we took was let's go and find another status that will allow Black Leopards to participate in professional football,” he said.  

“There’s many changes we will need to bring in because we feel our people and the community of Limpopo rely on us to make ends meet in different areas.  

“There was a lot of arguing and fighting in the family,” the chairperson said.  

“Our issue was mainly that we need to adjust some things. We need to be honest to say we can’t go and do things the same way we have been because that will mean the result will be the same.  

“We don’t want to find ourselves in the same situation.”  

The club will now be looking to assemble the squad and technical team, but Tshifhiwa has confirmed former club player Peter Mponda will return as one of the assistant coaches.