Death
On 10 November 2003, Banana died of cancer, in London, according to a report delivered by the Zimbabwean High Commissioner. The Guardian, a London-based newspaper, has claimed that Banana had travelled to South Africa, where he eventually died, in order to receive appropriate treatment for his cancer; however, this assertion relies upon uncorroborated testimonial evidence. He was buried in Zimbabwe in late November 2003. President Robert Mugabe called him "a rare gift to the nation" in a radio address. Banana was buried without the full honours that are traditionally accorded to former heads of state. The then politburo Secretary for Information and Publicity Nathan Shamuyarira told state radio that "they (the politburo) could not accord Banana hero status as a matter of principle."
Read more about this topic: Canaan Banana
Famous quotes containing the word death:
“To die, to sleep—
No more, and by a sleep to say we end
The heartache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to—’tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep.
To sleep, perchance to dream. Ay, there’s the rub,
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil
Must give us pause.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“The dignity to be sought in death is the appreciation by others of what one has been in life,... that proceeds from a life well lived and from the acceptance of one’s own death as a necessary process of nature.... It is also the recognition that the real event taking place at the end of our life is our death, not the attempts to prevent it.”
—Sherwin B. Nuland (b. 1930)