[1] She spent her adolescence in the Northern Transvaal,[2] matriculating at Ebenezer High School in Mokopane.
[1] Later, while a practising attorney, she completed an LLM at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in 2015;[1] her field was labour studies and her dissertation was titled, "The Effect of African Cultural Practices on Family Responsibility Leave.
[1] During that time, she worked under Labour Court Judge Raymond Zondo, who later became Chief Justice of South Africa.
[1] In April 2016, Masipa was shortlisted and interviewed as a candidate for possible permanent appointment to the bench of the KwaZulu-Natal High Court.
During the interviews in Cape Town, Masipa disclosed that the KwaZulu-Natal Law Society had made a finding of misconduct against her during her years in practice; Masipa said that the complaint arose from an apparent confusion related to the non-appearance of one of her clients in court, and that she had taken the finding on appeal.
She was also an acting judge in the Supreme Court of Appeal on three occasions, between June and September 2022, April and May 2023, and October and November 2023.
Asked by the Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution to provide reasons for this decision, the Judicial Service Commission outlined why the other nine candidates had not received the support of a majority of the commission; in Masipa's case, commissioners had apparently raised concerns about her relative inexperience.