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By S. Predrag
Zimbabwean Correspondent
The Head of the Methodist church in Zimbabwe, Bishop Farai Chirisa, told journalists in Harare that Banana has been kicked out of the ministry by a decision of the church elders. "He is no longer a minister because of what happened... the church took such a decision," said the Bishop who added that Banana "can never become a minister of church again". "As far as we are concerned," underlined Bishop Chirisa, "it is a dead issue and we are not prepared to discuss it any further".
Banana was President of the Republic for seven years - from April 1980, when Zimbabwe gained its Independence, till 1987--when he committed most of the offences in question. Four years were suspended on the condition that Banana pays Z$500, 000 (about US $12, 000) in compensation to one of his victims, Jefta Dube, and to the family of a fellow policeman who was murdered by Dube. The scandal involving the former President erupted in February 1997, during the trial of his former aide, Jefta Dube. At the time, Dube, a soccer player and policeman, was sentenced to 10 years in jail for the 1995 murder of a fellow police officer Patrick Mashiri who tauntingly called him "Banana's wife". Later, Dube claimed that he was raped by President Banana in the library of the State House, after being drugged first. The court heard testimony from witnesses such as Banana's cook, gardener, and others with similar experiences and accusations. Banana rejected all the accusations, saying that there was a "conspiracy" against him. He also appealed to the Harare court, claiming that negative pre-trial publicity in the media had prejudiced his right to a fair hearing. Although Banana escaped the country just days before Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku convicted him in absentia of 11 charges of sodomy, attempted sodomy and indecent assault, the former President eventually came back and was placed under house arrest. However, not for long, because this correspondent ran into him a couple of times, in the shops of Mt Pleasant, a Harare suburb, signaling that he did not spend a single night in prison. In the meantime, the Gays and Lesbians Association of Zimbabwe (GALZ) leader, Keith Goddard, sent an open letter to Canaan Banana after he attacked homosexuality as "deviant, abominable and wrong behavior". "You should hang your head in shame... As an African elder and as a man of the cloth," said Goddard in his letter, "you are expected to act with integrity". Pointing out that "deviant behavior is that which harms others," Goddard asked, "Why should a consensual sexual relationship between two people of the same sex be abominable when it is fulfilling and socially constructive?" Goddard also accused Banana of castigating homosexuals when he has been "convicted of engaging in homosexual activity (himself)" and added that "to describe (his) own kind as deviant and abominable is to define (himself) as a sell-out." He reminded Banana that "rumors of (his) homosexuality have abounded within the gay community for many years" and accused him of reinforcing prejudice against homosexuals and encouraging the persecution of homosexuals in Zimbabwe. "Nevertheless, we have consistently maintained a policy never to out people, believing this to be highly dangerous in a homophobic climate which borders on hysteria," claimed Goddard who attacked the former President for having "the audacity to contribute to the hate campaign against us."
The former President and Reverend, Canaan Banana, has not contested the church decision to defrock him, at least not thus far... |
Canaan Banana 
Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe 
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