Judge Zondo completed his Bachelor of Laws in the University of Natal and was admitted as an attorney in 1989. He went on to receive a Master of Laws in commercial law, labour law, and in patent law from the University of South Africa. 

In 1997 he was appointed judge of the Labour Court, during this time we was also appointed as a member of the Ministerial Task Team assigned with producing a draft Labour Relations Bill for the post-apartheid state of South Africa. 

In 1999 he was appointed to the now Gauteng Division of the High Court. For 10 years he served as the Judge President on the Labour Court. He subsequently went on to serve as an   acting judge of the Constitutional Court. 

In 2017, he was appointed to the office of Deputy Chief Justice, and in 2022 he was appointed as the Chief Justice of the Republic of South Africa.