The loss follows a humiliating 2-0 loss to Mauritius in the Cosafa Castle Cup on 10 January and is coupled with the ongoing row with sacked coach Ephraim `Shakes` Mashaba.
Things looked good for Bafana Bafana early on with striker Siyabonga Nomvete particularly vibrant.
Nomvete had several chances, and opened the scoring with a fierce shot after a quarter of an hour.
That goal merely served to shake the Senegalese out of their slumber however.
Henri Camara hit the South African bar with a header, and El Hadji Diouf had what the home crowd was convinced was a goal disallowed.
Then captain Pape Malick Diop equalized with a firm header, emphasizing the Lions` domination of the aerial game.
Diop`s goal came from a fine free kick from Ousmane Ndoye, who had a promising game filling in for the absent Khalilou Fadiga.
The rest of the half - and indeed the game - belonged to Senegal, with
theSouth Africans looking increasingly ragged.
The Lions spurned chance after chance, however, and a draw seemed increasingly likely.
That was until Mabizela attempted to clear a dangerous through ball, and succeeded only in chipping the ball over his goalkeeper Andre Arendse and into the empty net.
After the game caretaker coach April `Styles` Phumo admitted that South Africa are not ready for the Cup of Nations and changes need to be made.
"It`s clear we`re not totally ready yet and we`ll see what we can do to turn the team around before our first game," Phumo said.
"We`ll work on our fitness level, our ability to contest every ball and shuffle some players around in the first team."
At the Nations Cup, Senegal`s Group B campaign starts on 26 January against Burkina Faso, with matches against Kenya and Mali to follow.
South Africa are in Group D with Nigeria, Morocco and Benin.
