After receiving her LLB, however, she was appointed a lecturer in the University of Bophuthatswana's Department of Jurisprudence, where she worked until 1991, rising through the ranks to become an associate professor.

[5] In October 1994, shortly after the end of apartheid, President Nelson Mandela appointed Mokgoro to the newly established Constitutional Court of South Africa.

Throughout much of her service on the bench, Mokgoro was also the chairperson of the South African Law Reform Commission, serving three consecutive terms in the chair between 1995 and 2011.

[9][8] From 2013 to 2018, she was an official advocate for social cohesion in South Africa, appointed to that position by President Jacob Zuma.

With Juan E. Méndez of Argentina and Tracie L. Keesee of the United States, she served a three-year term on the panel.

[9] When she was discharged from hospital in June, her family announced that she would "step back" from her public engagements in order to focus on her recovery.