This species was first collected by Mr Dave Hardy in 1977, and again by very few collectors, until it was independently re-discovered by the author in 1999, and given the provisional name of Resnova megaphylla, a name which had remained unpublished until 2012, when J.M.H. Shaw, a botanist from Kew validated the name. The genus Resnova was transferred to Ledebouria by J.C. Manning & Goldblatt, where the former genus Resnova is now recognised as a section of the larger genus Ledebouria. The species is named for the large leaves, mega– meaning large and –phylla, leaf (Latin). The common name Sekhukune African Hyacinth refers to the Sekhukuneland area where the species originates.

The genus Resnova was combined into Ledebouria (2004) by Prof. John Manning, who also created two sections (2012) in Ledebouria to accommodate the closely allied groups (section Drimiopsis and section Resnova) that were formerly recognised as separate genera.

The genus is named in honour of the German-Estonian botanist, Professor Carl Friedrich von Ledebour (1785–1851). South Africa has 61 species of Ledebouria, with several more species occurring across southern, western, eastern and northeast Africa and into India. The genus Ledebouria is a member of the Hyacinth Family and is well represented especially across eastern summer rainfall parts of South Africa. L. megaphylla is most closely related to L. humifusa from which it differs by the purple flowers and broadly ovate leaves.