Shongwe practised as an attorney for more than twenty years and during 2000 he acted as a judge for the first time, after which, from January 2001, he was permanently appointed at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria. In 2005, he was appointed the Deputy Judge President of the same Division and in 2009 he was appointed to the Supreme Court of Appeal of South Africa. For two years, 2017 and 2018, he acted as the Deputy President of the Supreme Court of Appeal.[2] Shongwe was appointed the chairperson of the Electoral Court of South Africa, in May 2014.[3]