Nedbank Cup: How Gavin Hunt's Stellenbosch FC stole the people’s joy by knocking out Kaizer Chiefs

GAVIN Hunt and his Stellenbosch FC are no doubt carrying the tag of Public Enemy Number One in South Africa right now after their act of brutality knocking the people’s beloved Kaizer Chiefs out of the 2026 Nedbank Cup on Wednesday night.

Honestly, what business did Stellies have to break the hearts of millions of South Africans like that — eliminating the Mighty Amakhosi with a deceptive 2-1 scoreline in front of the throngs of spectators who were proudly draped in their gold and black at the Cape Town Stadium.

It was a rare home win for the Cape side, and it is a victory that surely meant a lot not only to the players but also to coach Hunt.

A big victory for Stellenbosch since Chiefs have actually become a long-time nemesis for the Winelands-based side.

Chiefs had won seven of their 11 previous away games against Stellenbosch but on Wednesday the night belonged to Capetonians as Amakhosi failed to respond to the two first half goals.

It was equally massive a victory for Hunt as well, it being his first big scalp since his January arrival at Stellenbosch and by the fact that there must still be some bad blood between him and Amakhosi — considering his “best forgotten time” as the head of Chiefs' bench.

It is not only the Amakhosi supporters though, who were hurt by the Stellenbosch victory; an equally similar feeling of discontent was surely felt at the Nedbank headquarters.

For Chiefs are “a big club”; domestic cup sponsors and other Premier Soccer League stakeholders are understandably happy with having the Glamour Boys enjoying longer participation in tournaments.

Aside from sentiments such as “For the love of the game” and “Let football reign”, the reality is that there is commercial value for the PSL and its sponsors to have Chiefs and their Soweto neighbours Orlando Pirates go all the way.

Last season was a dream tournament for the PSL and Nedbank as both the Soweto giants went all the way to meet in the final.

A game that would no doubt be sold out any day, and even influence the preceding semi-finals’ round to enjoy the same status.

Anyway, the Tuesday loss means that Chiefs will hoist no domestic silverware this season. They will have to focus their energies on the Caf Confederation Cup and the Betway Premiership title.

A tall order if you read from the fact that so far in 2026 they have only won by 1-0 scorelines, and the one game they found themselves trailing, they displayed signs of lacking character to respond.