Does zinc sulfate a have an ionic or covalent bond?
Both. The sulfur ion consists of one atom of sulfur and four of oxygen; because it does not have enough electrons to complete the octet rule for oxygen, it must use electrons from another source, whose charges are not balanced within the ion. The sulfur then forms six covalent bonds with oxygen: two double bond pairs, two single bond pairs. This causes the oxygen atoms with the extra electron to become negatively charged: The zinc ion forms an ionic bond with them and completes the compound.
