[1] Initially serving the surgical and medical cardiothoracic wards, she later worked in the trauma and emergency unit; as the night superintendent and trainer of intensive care nurses; and as part of the inaugural nursing team in the burns and plastic surgery unit, which was founded in 1981.
[1] In 1997, President Nelson Mandela appointed Ngcobo to the inaugural Commission for Gender Equality, where she served as a commissioner until 2004.
[1] She was a full-time commissioner for the provinces of KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga, in which capacity she was particularly interested in the rights of women in rural communities,[1] and she also served as acting chairperson of the commission in 2002 after the expiry of Joy Piliso-Seroke's term.
[7] In her capacity as chairperson, she was admired for insisting on joining committee oversight visits to remote areas that were not easily accessed in a wheelchair, including, shortly before her death, the site of a new lighthouse at Cape Agulhas.
[1] Also in 2014, the ANC nominated her to serve as a member of the ad hoc committee that absolved President Jacob Zuma of personal liability for controversial upgrades at his Nkandla homestead.