Banana, Canaan

Born in the rural commune of Esefizini near Bulawayo . After graduating from high school for two years, he studied theology at the seminary and in 1962 he received the rank of priest of the Methodist church . He served as a priest for several years. He later received a master 's degree in theology . In 1974-75 he studied at a seminary in the United States.

From the late 1960s to 1975 he lived in exile in the United States.

In the early 1970s, he joined the nationalist organization United African National Council (OAS), which fought against the ruling regime of J. Smith by legal means. He was vice president of the executive committee of the OAS. In 1975 he was arrested.

At the end of 1976, after the failure of the Geneva Constitutional Conference on Rhodesia, he broke with OAS and publicly opposed the policy of its leader Bishop A. Muzoreva .

In 1977, he became secretary of the information department of the People’s Movement, the inner wing of the opposition to the ruling regime of the Marxist party of ZANU , headed by R. Mugabe . actively participated in the struggle to overthrow the racist regime. After the prohibition of the People’s Movement in 1977, he was arrested and spent 2 years in prison.

Following the declaration of independence of Zimbabwe on April 11, 1980, the country's parliament was elected the first president of an independent state. In 1982, a separate law was passed prohibiting citizens of the country from joking about his last name ^[1] .

After resigning as president, he was a diplomat at the Organization of African Unity (in particular, participated in negotiations to end the crisis in Liberia ) and headed the religious department of the University of Zimbabwe.

He is the author of the African version of the prayer of Our Father : “Our Father, teach us to demand our share of gold and forgive us for our smartness ...” ^[2] .

He was arrested in 1997 and tried in 1998 on charges of sexual violence and sodomy brought forward during the trial of the murder of his former bodyguard. He was convicted of eleven episodes. He was released from custody on bail and fled to South Africa. He denied all the allegations, stating that the charges against him and testimony were “pathological lies” with the aim of destroying his political career. However, after a personal meeting with the President of South Africa, N. Mandela, in December 1998 he returned to his homeland, where on January 18, 1999 he was sentenced to 10 years in prison (however, 9 years in prison) and deprivation of church rank. He was imprisoned for 6 months (his wife received political asylum in the UK in 2000).

He died of cancer on November 10, 2003 in London.

• Afrikana.ru - African news - Canaan Banana has died
• Canaan banana
• The rev canaan banana
• New Time 1980, No. 19