mahomed was refused admission to the pretoria bar association, as it was reserved for white lawyers, but was able to join the johannesburg bar association. however, because of the group areas act, he was banned from getting an office of his own, and was forced to practice out of his colleagues' offices while they were away. in the 1960s he was extensively briefed to appear in matters in botswana. lesotho, swaziland and rhodesia, being briefed mostly in matters related to recovery of monies and debts, summary suits, and suits for specific performance and contractual damages in real estate deals. in 1974 he became the first non-white in south african history to take silk. in 1979 he was appointed to the appeal court of swaziland and in 1982 was made an appeal judge in lesotho, where he would later become president of the appeals court. he was made an english barrister in 1984. in 1991 he became the chair of the convention for a democratic south africa and the country's first non-white judge of the supreme court of south africa. he was later appointed to the appeal court. he was made a judge of the constitutional court in 1995. in 1996 he was made the chief justice of south africa by president nelson mandela.