Black Leopards looking to mine rough diamond in the new DStv Premiership

After years of a predatory instinct as big cats, Black Leopards will ditch that strategy and opt for a more meticulous approach of a baker mixing ingredients to perfection to produce a quality product in the new DStv Premiership.

This was the view of Leopards director Tshifhiwa Thidiela, son of the club owner Chief David Thidiela, when he launched the team’s new jersey and introduced their new partner of Lidoda Duvha (The day will come) at a function in Johannesburg’s Southern Sun Hotel in Hyde Park on 21 October.

“We have always been a predatory team in the same fashion with instinct as part of the big cats but that ambush and kill strategy does not seem to have worked over the years and we are ditching that for a more meticulous approach of a baker in his bakery,” he said.

“You can have all the predatory instincts of the big cats but wildlife experts will tell you that big cats fail more [than have success] when catching prey, and if the strategy does not work, you have the option to choose something that you believe will produce the desired goods for you.

“We have opted to be super meticulous in the way we shall mix and measure our ingredients in order to produce a product of superb quality and ensure that we no longer occupy the second last number of the 16 teams in the league but rise to occupy the top four or eight position.”

Thidiela added that part of that strategy meant finding partners that believe in the Lidoda Duvha philosophy of developing local talent. “Why should we go out to bring players from Congo when our own Tshepo next door can do it,” he asked when he introduced their partner.

“They are a mining company and we want to join them in mining our own rough diamonds in Limpopo and other parts of South Africa and polishing them to sparkle for the whole world to see. Charity begins at home and hence the focus on the home front when it comes to the development of players.”

Wonder Mokwena, marketing director of Yethembe Group which started off as a fuel distributor but has since branched into mining, said their philosophy of ‘inward-looking as opposed to outward-looking’ blended perfectly with that of Lidoda Duvha.

“We are a hundred per cent black-owned and founded the company that has the upliftment of black people in its veins and we subscribe to the principle of charity begins at home as well. Our partnership with Leopards is for three years with an option to renew,” Mokwena added.

In its quest to build a powerful Black Leopards brand, the club has roped in Belgian coach Patrick Aussems, who has had stints in Africa in places such as Benin, Congo, Sudan and Tanzania. He recently took Tanzanian outfit Simba SC to the quarter-finals of the Caf Champions League, a first for a Tanzanian side.