After starting his professional career at Cape Town Spurs and having a brief spell at Manning Rangers, Mngomeni became a household name in South Africa playing for Bush Bucks and Orlando Pirates.
He played for South Africa national soccer team and was a participant at the 2002 FIFA World Cup.
He left Spurs after two loan deals claiming that his coach, Mich D'Avray "hated him with a passion and he didn't know why".
[2] Mngomeni would play for Orlando Pirates between 1998 and 2002 and become the club captain, leading them to the league title in 2001.
[2] In 2022, he launched the Thabo Mngomeni Foundation, and has been coaching in the rural areas of the Eastern Cape province.