Thirty years of Zenex Foundation driving transformation in South Africa’s education sector is not just about systems and strategies, it is about people. The Zenex’s human-centred approach and investing in people, believing in their potential, and walking alongside them, has created a ripple effect of leadership and innovation.
A recent reflective conversation with Zameka (Zaza) Lubelwana, Literacy and Education Consultant, and Portia October, Intervention Lead in the Western Cape for Funda Wande, captured the essence of this legacy. Both were part of the Zenex Literacy (ZenLit) Project, an initiative that focused on improving the competence and skills of teachers to teach literacy and reading in the Foundation Phase. By supporting teachers through training and coaching, ZenLit demonstrated the power of how coaching improves teacher practice. In building the capacity in instructional coaching and foundational literacy of the ZenLit coaches, today both Zaza and Portia are among the leaders shaping large-scale interventions across provinces.
The Impact of ZenLit: More than Theory
For Zaza, ZenLit was a game-changer:
“It was not just theory. We were in classrooms, seeing where teachers were struggling with pedagogical content knowledge, and finding ways to improve learner outcomes. ZenLit helped us see education holistically, pedagogy, curriculum, teacher development, and learner success all interconnected.”
Portia echoed this transformation:
“Personally, ZenLit gave me confidence that I actually do know what I know, and that I can lead. That foundation helped move me into a position where I now lead an intervention covering nearly 800 schools. ZenLit was deliberate about developing not only teachers but those of us who were supporting them.”
Coaching & Capacity Building: The Cascade Effect
One of ZenLit’s greatest legacies is its multiplier effect. Coaches became coach-trainers, creating a succession of leadership.
“We came in as people meant to coach others,” Portia recalls, “but we ourselves were coached so deeply that we grew into leaders who now train others to coach. That cascade effect is the true power of ZenLit.”
The programme’s influence even extended to academia. Both women co-developed an Instructional Coaching Course in partnership with Harvard University, which they now lecture at Rhodes University.
“ZenLit was the foundation of who I am as an instructional coach,” Zaza reflects. “It inspired us to design interventions, to create training videos for teachers, and to develop that course which we now teach. The ripple effects are still multiplying.”
Scaling for the Next 30 Years
Both Zaza and Portia are clear that the future of education support in South Africa lies in system-wide provincial engagement, not isolated projects.
“Now it’s time to get into the bigger scale of things,” says Zaza. “Provinces know their contexts, their needs. The role of organisations like Zenex is to align with them, support them, and strengthen the coordination between directorates.”
Portia adds:
“Scaling is not just about breadth, it’s about depth—reducing the size of the problem. Literacy and numeracy remain our greatest challenge. If we can reduce the scale of that problem, one bite at a time, we will truly be moving forward.”
Partnerships: The Power of Collective Action
As literacy practitioners, they stressed the urgency of collaboration.
“We don’t have it all,” Portia explains. “If another organisation has the expertise in a particular language, why reinvent the wheel? Partnerships bring richness of expertise and capacity. Together, we can strengthen what provinces need.”
Legacy and Looking Ahead
For Portia, the support she received from Zenex Foundation was deeply personal:
“During my ZenLit years, I faced serious health challenges. Zenex staff didn’t just support me professionally, but with compassion and care. You don’t just have an organisational experience with Zenex, you have a human experience.”
As Zenex reflects on 30 years of impact, stories like these remind us that transformation is not only about structures, it’s about people. Coaches turned into leaders. What started as a pilot to test a literacy intervention, ZenLit offered a “proof of concept ” that influenced provincial interventions.
The next 30 years call for deeper partnerships, systemic alignment, and bold innovation. But if the legacy of ZenLit is any indication, the Zenex’s human-centred approach will remain the cornerstone of change.
“It takes a village to raise a child,” Portia concluded. “For us, that village is Zenex and its partners. Together, we can change the future of education.”
