"Senzo was a bundle of energy.
"I don't remember when he was serious.
"Even on the pictures, show me one where he is not smiling," he said at a memorial service in Johannesburg for three sporting stars who died in the past week.
"We are here to celebrate the lives of these athletes," Mashaba said.
Meyiwa was shot dead in Vosloorus, Ekurhuleni, while visiting his singer girlfriend Kelly Khumalo on Sunday evening.
Two men entered the house demanding cellphones and shot him before fleeing.
Former world champion 800m track sensation Mbulaeni Mulaudzi was killed in a car accident in Mpumalanga on Friday.
He was on his way to Johannesburg when he lost control of his car.
Welterweight boxer Phindile Mwelase died on Saturday after being in coma for two weeks following a bout.