Zanele is a Solicitor and Lecturer of Clinical Legal Education. Prior to joining the University, Zanele worked for a firm of solicitors based in West Yorkshire where she primarily undertook family law work. She is a lecturer and supervising solicitor in Lancaster University’s national, award-winning Law Clinic. In the Law Clinic, students interview members of the public about their legal cases, conduct legal research and draft letters of advice to clients under the supervision of a qualified lawyer. The Law Clinic has provided hundreds of thousands of pounds of free legal advice to the public. The Law Clinic won the FASS Outstanding Contribution to Engagement Award in 2020. Zanele founded the Law Clinic’s Research Hub in 2023 which aims to use research to inform practice and to further develop the work of the law clinic.

Zanele is also part of the University’s award-winning Policy Law Clinic which won the FASS Dean’s Staff Award in 2023 in the category of Environmental Sustainability.

Zanele is the Co-Director of the Africa Research Hub, a cross disciplinary research network at Lancaster University made up of academics with any interest (research or otherwise) in the continent of Africa. It is a pivotal initiative that is committed to knowledge sharing and exchange, and endeavours to foster an environment for enabling collaborative work between LU colleagues and African scholars and institutions. Zanele’s research focuses on the regulation of relationships, in particular same-sex relationships and LGBT rights in sub-Saharan Africa.

The title of her upcoming monograph is 'The Legal Recognition of Same-Sex Marriage in Sub-Saharan Africa: The Barriers to Marriage Equality'.

She is also a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

Family law

Law Clinic related modules

Zanele is interested in supervising dissertations and projects in Family law, LGBT Rights in Africa, and Clinical Legal Education

Zanele's research interests are in family law and the regulation of same-sex relationships in Africa. Zanele`s research is interdisciplinary and examines the criminalisation of same-sex relationships, LGBT+ rights and human rights.