Phala trained and practiced as a lawyer. During the 1980s, he was active in the
anti-apartheid student movement, and he was appointed as the ANC's political education officer in the Limpopo region after the organisation was unbanned in 1990. He served as Speaker until 19 July 2013, when
Stan Mathabatha, the newly elected
Premier of Limpopo, appointed him to the
Limpopo Executive Council as MEC for Treasury.'''''' Mathabatha retained him in that position after the
2014 general election, in which Phala was re-elected to his legislative seat ranked sixth on the ANC's provincial
party list. However, Mathabatha fired him on 27 May 2015. The opposition
Economic Freedom Fighters claimed that Phala was removed for defying Mathabatha's instructions to award state contracts improperly. Phala remained an ordinary
Member of the Provincial Legislature and he was re-elected to his seat in the
2019 general election, ranked 33rd on the ANC's party list. but was not re-elected in 2022. == Personal life ==