Memorial service for celebrity chef Thembekile Letlape to be held

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The memorial service of celebrity chef Thembekile Letlape, will be held in Johannesburg on Wednesday evening. Letlape who was commonly known as the “Pastry Princess” died last week.

Her lifeless body was found on Thursday last week at her partner’s house. Her boyfriend Sibusiso Zitha appeared in the Randburg Magistrate’s Court in connection with her murder on Monday.

The 40-year-old has been charged with murder after several days on the run.

After a career in finance where she spent some time working for two of South Africa’s major banks, Thembekile Letlape left her job as a banker to pursue her dream to be a chef. She would soon become a fan favorite where she was known to many as the, “Pastry Princess.

Letlape’s uncle Sello Setshusha says her death has left a vacuum in the family.

“As the family, while we are saddened, we want to treasure the kind of child she was and the loving person she was. We cannot say there would be somebody who would replace her. She is somebody who you miss when she’s not around. But we have to accept the inevitable. We have to let her life live in us and rather have to cherish the beautiful moments that we had with her throughout her life.”

Thembekile was the daughter of one of South Africa’s healthcare leader and founder of the African Medical Association, Dr, Kgosi Letlape.

Her friends are devastated.

“Thembi has been part of my life since the beginning of time. I do not know life without her. And what I miss already and what I will miss is the way in which she protected us. She would always stand up for us. Her love, her food, her business acumen, her smile, her beauty, her fun loving personality and her sisterhood. She really is a big part of our hearts. There’s nothing we won’t miss about her,” says Letlape’s best friend, Ipeleng Motuba.

Two more people have also been arrested in connection with Thembekile’s murder.

Letlape will be laid to rest in Fourways on Friday.