Limpopo-based Black Leopards made their return to South Africa’s top flight at the beginning of the season, after an absence of five years out of the elite.
After 11 matches, Lidoda Duvha find themselves 13th on the table with two wins, three draws and six defeats. That horrendous run has forced their head coach, Joel Masutha, to resign. The club confirmed the resignation of Masutha on their official twitter account on Monday 12 November.
Leopards have appointed assistant coach, Morgan Shivambu, as interim coach as they search for Masutha’s replacement. There have been some interesting names thrown in the hat, with the likes of Luc Eymael, who parted ways with Free State Stars on the same date as Masutha. The Belgian who had a successful short spell at Polokwane City, was tipped by many to do well at Ea Lla Koto and Eymael exceeded expectations when he guided Stars to their first major trophy last season when they lifted the Nedbank Cup.
However, word coming in from a source close to the club is that Sunday Chidzambwa, the current head coach of the Zimbabwean national team, could make his return to Limpopo. Chidzambwa was in charge at Leopards from 2010-2012 and he is strongly linked to be Masutha’s replacement due to his close bond with David Thidiela, the chairman of Lidoda Duvha.
Zimbabwe are currently on top of Group G in their 2019 AFCON Qualifiers with eight points, and a win at Liberia on Sunday will take the Warriors to Cameroon. So, it remains to be seen whether the 66-year-old will leave his current job before the AFCON 2019 or if Thidiela will tempt him away from his national team and join up with the Leopards squad in the coming weeks.
Written by Banele Pikwa
