[1] She began her legal career in 1994 as a claims handler at the Road Accident Fund, and between 1995 and 1996, she served her articles of clerkship at Routledges in Johannesburg and Lephoko & Ledwaba Attorneys in Pretoria.
[3][4] After her interview in Cape Town, the Judicial Service Commission recommended Mphahlele for appointment,[5] which President Jacob Zuma confirmed with effect from 2 December 2013.
[6] Sitting in Middelburg, Mpumalanga in 2017, Mphahlele presided in the coffin case, concerning an assault on a black man which received international coverage.
[10][11] The sentences were welcomed by the South African government,[12] but they were cut short in 2019 when the Supreme Court of Appeal overturned the attempted murder convictions in Oosthuizen v State.
[1] Later the same year, in Middelburg, she presided in the highly publicised murder trial of Zinhle Maditla, who was sentenced to life imprisonment for poisoning her four children.
[1][17] Although Judge President Frans Legodi praised her temperament, the panel also pointed to a submission from the Mpumalanga Society of Advocates which complained about her treatment of counsel.