diff --git a/.golangci.yml b/.golangci.yml
index 83126ae5b41e..edcb58f2a683 100644
--- a/.golangci.yml
+++ b/.golangci.yml
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ linters:
     - whitespace
     - nosprintfhostport
     - loggercheck
+    - makezero
 
 run:
   skip-files:
diff --git a/api/common/v1alpha1/ref.go b/api/common/v1alpha1/ref.go
index a838fca55cb3..9da14c412650 100644
--- a/api/common/v1alpha1/ref.go
+++ b/api/common/v1alpha1/ref.go
@@ -99,7 +99,7 @@ type BackendRefHash string
 func (in BackendRef) Hash() BackendRefHash {
 	keys := maps.Keys(in.Tags)
 	sort.Strings(keys)
-	orderedTags := make([]string, len(keys))
+	orderedTags := make([]string, 0, len(keys))
 	for _, k := range keys {
 		orderedTags = append(orderedTags, fmt.Sprintf("%s=%s", k, in.Tags[k]))
 	}
diff --git a/app/kumactl/cmd/install/install_observability.go b/app/kumactl/cmd/install/install_observability.go
index f7db0906b0d2..537636665469 100644
--- a/app/kumactl/cmd/install/install_observability.go
+++ b/app/kumactl/cmd/install/install_observability.go
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ func newInstallObservability(pctx *kumactl_cmd.RootContext) *cobra.Command {
 			if err != nil {
 				return err
 			}
-			combinedResources := make([]data.File, len(metrics)+len(logging)+len(tracing))
+			combinedResources := make([]data.File, 0, len(metrics)+len(logging)+len(tracing))
 			combinedResources = append(combinedResources, metrics...)
 			combinedResources = append(combinedResources, logging...)
 			combinedResources = append(combinedResources, tracing...)