Sam Nhlengethwa was born in the mining community of Payneville, Springs, south-east of Johannesburg. After studying at the Rorke's Drift Art Centre in the late 1970s, he attended the Johannesburg Art Foundation, which was established by <a href=" https://findartvalue.com/artist/bill-ainslie">Bill Ainslie</a>. Nhlengethwa taught part-time at Federated Union of Black Artists (FUBA) in Johannesburg a