Canaan Banana: 14th years after his death

 Name: Canaan Sodindo Banana

Born: March 5, 1936, Esiphezini, Esigodini, Zimbabwe

Died: November 10, 2003, London, United Kingdom

Spouse: Janet Banana (m. 1961)

Party: Zimbabwe African National Union

Children: Nobuhle Beauty, Martin Mhambi Salaam, Nathan Sipho, Michael Thabo

Canaan Sodindo Banana, 67, Zimbabwe's first post-independence president, who was convicted and imprisoned for sodomy in 2000, died Tuesday in Harare after a long illness.

Banana served as the country's ceremonial president from March 1980 to Dec. 31, 1987. Prime Minister Robert Mugabe then took over as president.
While in office, Banana urged Mugabe to pursue unity talks with opponents to end violence that reportedly claimed the lives of 20,000 civilians.
In a radio tribute, Mugabe called Banana "a rare gift to the nation" and said he was likely to be declared a national hero.

In 2000, the Zimbabwe Supreme Court upheld Banana's 1998 conviction for sodomy and sentenced him to a year in jail.
During the trial a former aide testified that Banana had drugged and raped him in the 1980s.
Banana, who served only six months of his sentence, denied being homosexual and said allegations against him were part of a vendetta.