“Clean the Nation Spiritually”: The Ministry of National Guidance and Religious Affairs (MNGRA) and the National Sexual Moral Order in Zambia

The study interrogates the concept of “cleaning the nation spiritually” as a catchy phrase in the Ministry of National Guidance and Religious Affairs’ (MNGRA) search for national moral order in Zambia. This study focuses specifically on MNGRA responses on sexual and gender minorities, sex toys and South African panty-less dancer, Zodwa Wabantu, to demonstrate how the emerging Zambian nationalism is deeply entrenched in traditional sexual moral order, the perceived imperative for national wellbeing. The Pentecostal nationalist imaginations are engaged through descriptive case study designs, which utilized document analysis in the form of media discourse on the ministry’s agenda in the public sphere, the study argues that the sexual imaginations such as those mentioned above are perceived to have the potential to degrade national morality and, therefore, embody a threat to the wellbeing of the nation.