Canaan Banana was an eminent political leader of Zimbabwe who went on to become the country’s first black President, after the much-prolonged war of independence. A radical theologian and a Methodist minister, Banana’s early political career enjoyed an honourable status. He played an influential role in the transnational black liberation movement which toppled the white-only Smith regime and subsequently racism in the country. Despite holding ceremonial position (as real power vested with Prime Minister Robert Mugabe), Banana was instrumental in ending ethnic violence in Matebeleland by amalgamating two political parties ZANU and ZAPU. However, his remarkable reputation as a politician witnessed a major downfall when he was convicted on charges of sodomy. A disgraceful end to an honourable career, Banana was charged of sexually harassing people under him. Despite his repeated insistence, the court was convinced with the evidence against him and condemned him with ten years of imprisonment for homosexual assault. Following the sex scandal, he was stripped of his clerical rank