By CHUSA SICHONE

.Zodwa

IN a move likely to leave her Zambian fans panting with rage, the Government says Zodwa Wabantu, the South African dancer who finds undergarments an inconvenience when doing her thing, is not welcome here.
National Guidance and Religious Affairs Minister Rev Sumaili says Zondwa’s sexually provocative dressing and dancing has the potential to corrupt morals of the citizenry.
In an interview yesterday, Rev Sumaili said as a Christian Nation, Zambia could not provide Zondwa the platform to strut her stuff anywhere in the country as doing so was would be tantamount to promoting immorality.
“It is so clear; we are a Christian Nation and we uphold the values of morality and ethics. We uphold human dignity, so as a nation, we cannot allow such. I mean, someone performing without underwear, there is no morality there,” Rev Sumaili said.
Rev Sumaili’s remarks followed reports and adverts circulating on social media that Zondwa, hugely controversial even in liberal South Africa for performing without underwear, provocative dressing and suggestive dancing, was among the headliners slated to perform at Karasa Karayo’s ‘Pandemonium’ album launch on March 10, 2018 at the Hollywood Night Club in Lusaka.
Rev Sumaili said while investigations had revealed that the promoter had not yet applied for a permit for Zondwda, the Government’s position was that it would not be granted.
The Zimbabwean government last year barred Zondwa from entering the country again after she failed to commit to not performing without underwear.
Similarly, Lesotho kept her from performing there after Members of Parliament reached a consensus that allowing Zondwa to perform would be against the country’s public indecency laws.
Meanwhile, Reverend Sumaili said that headway had been made in the formulation of a regulatory framework for churches and Faith Based Organisations (FBOs).
Reverend Sumaili said that representatives of the three church mother bodies and other religious groupings were currently finalising the draft regulatory framework which seeks to guide the operations of churches and FBOs in Zambia.
“As we are speaking right now, there are people from the church mother bodies who are doing the final draft, so very soon we shall have the final draft,” she said.
Zambia has over the years seen a mushrooming of churches and other religious groupings, raising concerns which the framework seeks to address.