South African singer and songwriter Langa Mavuso has opened up about the last day he shared with his late partner, celebrity chef and TV personality Lentswe Bhengu-Mafoko.
On Lungelo KM’s podcast, Mavuso spoke with raw vulnerability about their final moments together before Lentswe’s untimely passing on February 28, 2023, following a short illness. The couple had been together for seven years.
“It was an ordinary day, but it was full of love.”
Mavuso describes that day as strikingly simple, a morning that started quietly. Breakfast lovingly prepared by Lentswe, and small everyday rituals that, in hindsight, carried profound weight.
No sign of impending death
“There was no sign that anything was changing,” Mavuso recalls.
“We laughed, we argued about silly things, we held each other like we always did. It was just us, being us.”
The singer says what breaks him most is how normal the day felt. No dramatic goodbyes. No final words. Just love, familiar, soft, and steady.
The pair, who met eight years earlier through Lentswe’s sister, actress Swankie Mafoko, built a life anchored in shared creativity, his music and Lentswe’s food. Friends and family often described their relationship as tender and deeply intentional, even when weathering the pressures of public life.
Mavuso notes how Lentswe had a way of making ordinary moments feel special. Turning breakfast into a ritual, hosting family braais with warmth, and finding joy in the simplest of days.
“His presence was joy. He could light up a room just by being in it.”
Emotional tribute
Following Lentswe’s passing, Mavuso delivered an emotional tribute at his memorial, describing him as “home” and “the love that taught me to love better”. The singer later released his album You Live On, which he has often described as both a farewell and a continuation of love.
But grief, he says, is not something one moves past, only through.
“Some days it hurts like hell,” he once shared. “But love doesn’t end. It just changes form.”
In the years since, Mavuso has confirmed that he has found love again. He has spoken openly about how healing does not mean forgetting. And that new love does not erase the love that came before.
“Wherever he is,” Mavuso has said, “I know he is at peace. And I know he would want me to live, fully.”
