Motsepe Foundation Championship — Round 29 | 9 May 2026
Black Leopards FC produced a deserved home win over Venda FC on Saturday, with Mwape Musonda and Goodman Chirwa on the scoresheet at Thohoyandou Stadium to give Lidoda Duvha a 2-1 victory in the club’s final home fixture of the 2025/26 campaign.
Musonda gets the breakthrough
The opener came from a familiar source. Mwape Musonda found the net to put Lidoda Duvha in front, the kind of finish the striker has been producing in the club’s colours for years and one that lifted Thohoyandou Stadium from the moment the ball hit the back of the net. The hosts had earned the lead through the better of the early exchanges and the supporters made sure he heard about it.
Chirwa makes it two
Goodman Chirwa added the second to double the advantage and put real distance between the sides going into the closing stages. Venda FC, to their credit, kept playing and pulled one back to set the final at 2-1, but Black Leopards had done more than enough across the 90 minutes to ensure the three points stayed in Thohoyandou.
Where this leaves Black Leopards
On the pitch, the result was exactly what the supporters came for. Off it, the wider table maths went the wrong way on the same day — relegation from the Motsepe Foundation Championship was mathematically confirmed regardless of what happened at Thohoyandou. Two goals at home could not change a season that had already turned on other factors.
Lidoda Duvha will play their final fixture of 2025/26 away at Lerumo Lions before the curtain falls on the campaign. Off the pitch, the club continues to pursue arbitration with SAFA over the withholding of player registration cards in four early-season matches — a process the club believes goes to the heart of how the season unfolded.
Final word
A two-goal home win, the final whistle at Thohoyandou Stadium, and a result the supporters can hold onto going into the close season. The 2025/26 campaign has been a difficult one for Black Leopards, but the players left the home pitch as winners. Lidoda Duvha will keep fighting on every front available — on the pitch at Lerumo Lions and off it through arbitration. The story is not finished yet.
