Born in present-day North West Province, Nkabinde entered legal practice as a state law adviser in the homeland government of Bophuthatswana before she was admitted as an advocate in 1988.
[1] On 17 October 2005 in Cape Town, Nkabinde was one of five candidates whom the Judicial Service Commission interviewed for possible appointment to Arthur Chaskalson's vacant seat in the Constitutional Court of South Africa.
[5] However, the opposition Democratic Alliance preferred Hoexter for the position, with party leader Tony Leon describing Nkabinde as "a relatively obscure judge from the remote reaches of North-West Province" with "no significant background in constitutional law".
[14][15][16] In 2008, Nkabinde was a member of the coram in Thint v NDPP, a politically sensitive case emanating from the ongoing corruption prosecution of presidential candidate Jacob Zuma.
According to Nkabinde, while the Constitutional Court's judgment was reserved, she was visited at her chambers by Cape Judge President John Hlophe, who she said tried to lobby her in Zuma's favour.
[34] Nkabinde retired from the judiciary in December 2017 after a special ceremonial session on 7 December, at which she delivered her last judgment in the labour law case Public Servants Association obo Ubogu v Head of the Department of Health, Gauteng and Others, Head of the Department of Health, Gauteng and Another v Public Servants Association obo Ubogu.
[35] During her farewell address, Nkabinde reflected on the notion of the separation of powers, pointing out that the separation was supposed to serve the pursuit of constitutional values shared by all three branches of government; she speculated that if the legislative and executive branches did more to promote the Constitution, the judiciary would "play a far significantly less central role than it is present required to do".
[3] Her seat on the Constitutional Court remained vacant for almost two years until, in 2019, President Cyril Ramaphosa appointed Zukisa Tshiqi and Steven Majiedt to fill the dual vacancies left by Nkabinde and Moseneke's retirement.
[39] In November 2020, the Speaker of the National Assembly, Thandi Modise, appointed her to chair an independent panel tasked with evaluating whether there was prima facie evidence of incompetence or misconduct by Busisiwe Mkhwebane, the Public Protector of South Africa.
[41] On 21 October 2021, North-West University awarded Nkabinde an honorary doctorate "for her exceptional contribution to the legal profession and to social justice in South Africa".