[1] During the 1980s, he was active in the anti-apartheid student movement, and he was appointed as the ANC's political education officer in the Limpopo region after the organisation was unbanned in 1990.
[3] Mathabatha retained him in that position after the 2014 general election,[4] in which Phala was re-elected to his legislative seat ranked sixth on the ANC's provincial party list.
[6] The opposition Economic Freedom Fighters claimed that Phala was removed for defying Mathabatha's instructions to award state contracts improperly.
[7] Phala remained an ordinary Member of the Provincial Legislature and he was re-elected to his seat in the 2019 general election, ranked 33rd on the ANC's party list.
[5] He was elected to the Provincial Executive Committee of the Limpopo ANC in 2018[8] but was not re-elected in 2022.