She served on the Industrial Council and was the National Women's Coordinator of the Transport and General Workers Union (T&GWU).

[6] On 28 March 1996, President Nelson Mandela announced that he had decided to create the office of the Deputy Minister of Minerals and Energy.

[9] In that portfolio she was best known for the widespread controversy that arose in April 2008, when, speaking of criminals, she told an audience of police officers in Pretoria that, "You must kill the bastards if they threaten you or the community".

[10][11][12] In the April 2009 general election, Shabangu was re-elected to her parliamentary seat and Jacob Zuma took office as president.

[15] In August 2012, following the Marikana massacre at Lonmin Platinum Mine near Rustenburg where 44 people were killed after police opened fire on striking workers belonging to the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU), Shabangu visited the area.

[16] Shabangu was re-elected to the National Assembly in the May 2014 general election and she was appointed to Zuma's second-term cabinet, which was announced on 25 May.

[17][18] When the Department of Women tabled its five-year strategic plan in 2015, the Mail & Guardian noted that 40 per cent of the department's R200-million annual budget was allocated to administration, remarking that the plan suggested that "Shabangu is supposed to be running some sort of research-heavy lobby group that spends too much money on administration and is unlikely to actually advance the cause of women one iota".

[19] Shabangu was one of 35 signatories to an open letter, coordinated by the One Campaign, which urged Angela Merkel of the G7 and Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma of the African Union to emphasise women's interests in international development initiatives.

[22][18] In August 2016, Shabangu was the acting President of South Africa while both Zuma and his deputy were both in Swaziland at a meeting of the Southern African Development Community.

[25] The Daily Maverick described her new ministry as "a poisoned chalice of note";[26] her main task was to stabilise the social welfare system in the aftermath of the grants crisis.