[1] From 2000 to 2006, she was an ANC local councillor in Ehlanzeni and served as the Member of the Mayoral Committee responsible for finance and community safety.
[1] In 2009, she was elected to a seat in the Mpumalanga Provincial Legislature, and she subsequently served Deputy Chief Whip of the Majority Party, the ANC, from 2010 to 2014.
[2][1] In 2018, the opposition Economic Freedom Fighters laid a complaint against Shongwe with the South African Police Service, alleging that as Speaker Shongwe had contravened the Public Finance Management Act in failing to ensure accountability after the Auditor-General found that two provincial government contracts had been improperly awarded.
[4] In the 2019 general election, Shongwe was re-elected to the provincial legislature, ranked 11th on the ANC's party list,[2] and Mtsweni-Tsipane moved her to a new portfolio as MEC for Social Development.
[5] She remained in that position until February 2021, when Mtsweni-Tsipane announced a reshuffle which saw Shongwe swop portfolios with Lindiwe Ntshalintshali and return to her earlier post as MEC for Culture, Sport and Recreation.