Leleti Khumalo was well known for a character she played in the movie of Sarafina that was released in the early 90s. The movie was the help to fight against apartheid that South Africa was facing under white people. Leleti, popularly known as Sarafina, was a high scholar and a beautiful girl who also happened to lead the rest of her classmates in fighting against the while colonies. The movie was also influenced by the co-starring of Americas actress Whoopi Goldberg who played Miss Masombuka, a teacher.

Sarafina was a major success in the movie industry since it tackled real issues that happened during the apartheid as the former president Nelson Mandela was in prison. Leleti later revealed the reason she took a break from acting after the release of Sarafina saying she was battling with vitiligo, a disease that affects the skin color because of lack of melanin. She even said she had been covering her skin in makeup so that the white skin