Intimate Saturday with Letoya

Letoya Makhene-Pulumo born September 7,

1984, is a South African singer and actress.

Born and raised in Soweto, Johannesburg,

Letoya performed in various singing and

dancing competitions as a child and was also

a child TV show presenter. She rose to fame

in the mid-1990s when she took the enter-

tainment industry by storm. They released

two albums titled “Pampiri” and “The Party

Goes On”.

Her accolades include appearing on TV at the

tender age of nine on Mnet(subscription

channel) as a K-TV presenter and bagging

commercials for Manhattan Sweets and

Edgars retail stores in the same year. She

also shared a stage with South African

legends, namely; Brenda Fassie, Lucky Dube,

Yvonne Chaka Chaka and many more when

she performed with her father, Blondie

Makhene.

At age 10, this budding star became a

presenter on the Rainbow Star Ship. She also

had her first international trip to Ghana

where she performed with international

musicians like Osi Bisa, Sounds of Black-

ness(USA) and ended up doing a jam session

with the legendary Stevie Wonder(USA).

She then became the presenter of the Disney

UNESCO Children’s Summit in Paris. In her

first year Contemporary Music at the National

School of the Arts, Letoya was moved up a

year by her educators, basically doing grade

10 and 11 in one year and took the honours

for best Pianist and best Vocalist. She was

further bestowed with full colours in music.

At the age of 15, she decided to put her

studies as a drama student to a test by taking

her performances to the small screen and

landed a role as a presenter in the first

season of

Soul Buddyz (a children’s entertainment show)

with the National Broadcaster (SABC). She then

joined Channel O as a VJ for three years.

At the age of 18 she was head-hunted to present

the second season of Idols(SA) alongside Collin

Moss. She then landed roles in two short films

titles “MY Zulu Promise” and “The Legacy”

(Biggest SA soapy). She has also acted in Isidingo

and Rhythm City. As an actress, she continued to

pursue her career in music and she has recently

released two singles titled “Qinisela” and

“Ngihawukele”.

She continues to perform in corporate shows,

MC, song writing, motivational speaking, voice

overs, session work and charity work. She has

recently presented awards to the best/outstand-

ing female actress and male actor category at the

Royalty Soapie Awards.

Letoya is also the Founder of The Letoya

Makhene Foundation and House of Kgwedi.

The Letoya Makhene Foundation was founded in

2020 during Covid-19 to drive forward a commit-

ment to providing the highest quality care that

women, children and the LGBTQIA+ community

needs and deserves. The foundation has been

delivering food parcels and blankets since March

last year and helping to alleviate poverty in disad-

vantaged communities.

House of Kgwedi is a herbal pharmacy that was

established in 2009. At the age of 18, in 2002,

Letoya embraced her gift of healing and graduat-

ed as a fully qualified Sangoma and has been

running her private practice since. The company

now manufactures herbal infused products and

tonics and sells them online.

Letoya is married to Lebo Makhene-Pulumo and

is a mother of four. She believes that “If you can

dream it, you CAN achieve it!”.