Harare - Zimbabwe's first post-independence president, Canaan Banana died on Monday. Banana -who was convicted and jailed for sodomy - passed away after a long illness, state television reported. He was 67-years-old.
"Dear Zimbabweans, I announce with deep sorry and sadness the death today of Comrade Canaan Sodindo Banana, the first president of our independent nation of Zimbabwe," said a message from President Robert Mugabe read on the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation.
Born in 1936, the former Methodist minister became ceremonial president when the former British colony attained independence in 1980, a post he relinquished in 1987 when then-prime minister Mugabe became executive president.
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In May 2000 Zimbabwe's Supreme Court upheld Banana's conviction for sodomy and jailed him for a year after a sensational trial during which his former aide described how the former president drank, danced and played cards with him before drugging and raping him on a carpet at State House in the 1980s.
Banana insisted throughout the sodomy case that he was not a homosexual and said the accusations against him were "pathological lies" and part of a "malicious vendetta".
Banana's trial and conviction damaged the statesman-like image of a man credited with brokering the unity in 1987 of Zimbabwe's two main political parties, bringing to an end an army crackdown on Mugabe's opponents which rights groups say left 20 000 civilians dead.
Analysts said the trial was an embarrassment for Mugabe, who has publicly referred to homosexuals as "worse than dogs and pigs". It also overshadowed Banana's key role as emissary of the now-defunct Organisation of African Unity's peace missions in apartheid South Africa and civil strife-torn Liberia. Banana was released in 2001 after serving eight months of a one-year sentence, getting time off for good behaviour.
Banana was touted as a possible broker in 2002 peace talks between Mugabe's ZANU-PF and the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change which fell apart when MDC leader Morgan Tsvangirai launched a court appeal against Mugabe's controversial victory in March 2002 presidential elections.
Although he largely stayed out of the public limelight after leaving prison, Banana addressed public debates where he bemoaned the political crisis that has beset Zimbabwe since the emergence in 1999 of the MDC, the biggest challenge to Mugabe's 23-year rule.
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