He is a former Member of Parliament and served until May 2019 as the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, having been appointed by President Jacob Zuma in May 2014.

He became involved in trade union activism in 1980 during the apartheid-era in South Africa at the President Steyn gold mine in the Free State.

He joined the ranks of NUM in 1983, became a shaft steward in 1984 and was elected to the branch executive committee in the President Steyn Mine in 1985.

In 2005 Zokwana was elected as President of the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions in 2005 and was subsequently re-elected in November 2011.

[1] On the 16th of August 2012, 34 miners were gunned down by the South African Police Service after they had embarked on a months lengthy strike demanding wage increase.