Prof Zondi is a leading scholar of African Languages, gender, and decolonial thought whose work bridges the Humanities, feminist discourse, and indigenous knowledge systems. She currently serves as Vice-Dean: Research, Postgraduate Studies and Internationalisation in the Faculty of the Humanities at the University of the Free State and is an NRF C2-rated researcher.

A Fulbright Research Scholar (2022–2023) at The Ohio State University, Prof Zondi holds a PhD in African Languages (isiZulu) from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, where she also completed her MA and BA degrees. Over a distinguished academic career spanning nearly three decades, she has held leadership roles at the University of Pretoria, University of Zululand, and University of KwaZulu-Natal, where she advanced the study of African languages and literature as spaces for social justice and feminist inquiry.

Prof Zondi’s research explores gender, oral traditions, and power relations in African societies, with an emphasis on reclaiming women’s voices through song, performance, and literature. Her acclaimed monograph, Bahlabelelelani-Why Do They Sing? Gender and Power in Contemporary Women’s Songs (UKZN Press, 2020; Routledge, 2023), is recognised internationally for its contribution to feminist African scholarship.

A prolific author and editor, she has published widely in accredited journals and co-edited Thetha Sizwe: Contemporary South African Debates on African Languages and the Politics of Gender and Sexualities (ESI Press, 2023). Prof Zondi serves as a Board Member of the National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences (NIHSS) and as a Regional Mentor in its Doctoral Programme, contributing to the growth of African-centred scholarship and academic leadership.