after the re-admission of south africa to fifa in 1992, khumalo was selected to be a member of the south african squad for its first official international match in july of the same year, against cameroon. south africa won the match 1–0, due to a penalty scored by khumalo. he was also a leading member of the winning south african national team at the 1996 african cup of nations . he also represented south africa in the 1997 fifa confederations cup and the 1998 fifa world cup. throughout his whole international career, he played for south africa 50 times (twice as captain), scoring nine goals making him the 13th most capped south african footballer. khumalo turned down a chance to play for the 1998 and 2000 african cup of nations. he made his international farewell in 2001.