Growing up in Diepkloof, Soweto, Zanele lived with her grandparents – a strict couple who, like most township parents, expected their granddaughter to cook and clean most evenings after school. But after joining her school's SRC, Zanele found that she was often busy in meetings until six or seven o’clock in the evening, leaving little time for her domestic work. As she became increasingly involved in the struggle, her household chores became more and more of an impediment. ‘It was a little bit difficult,’ she explained, ‘because sometimes you want to go somewhere to attend maybe the meetings. But you know that at home you must go and prepare the fire. You must go and put the pot for supper.’ She continued:

Once the police became aware of her political activities, Zanele's home life was complicated further. ‘Because I wasn't allowed to go inside the house,’ she explained. ‘When I go inside the house, you’ll hear my grandfather and grandmother, “Ai, ai, ai! You are going to bring the Boers here!” All those things, you know?’ Yet Zanele's relationship with her guardians was not a simple one of disapproval and chastisement. As a supportive gesture to her granddaughter's new political lifestyle, Zanele's grandmother would prepare food and leave it outside the house to make sure that Zanele was fed, even though she could no longer sleep at home. While Zanele at times expressed her joy in rebelling against parental pressures, she also spoke openly about the personal difficulties her politicisation caused: ‘It was so painful, because I missed them. I want to see them, you know? I want to change my clothes. But I wasn't allowed.