Early Life
Banana was born in 1936 in Esiphezini Communal Area, Southern Rhodesia near Esigodini (now in Matabeleland South). His parents were a Ndebele-cultured mother and a Sotho father who had emigrated to Rhodesia. He was educated by missionaries in a local school and later studied at a teacher training institute.
He married Janet Mbuyazwe in 1961, and they had four children together, Michael Thabo, Nathan Sipho, Martin Mhambi Salaam and Nobuhle Beauty. He took a diploma in theology at Epworth Theological College in Salisbury and was ordained as a United Methodist minister in 1962. He was a student at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C. in 1974 and 1975. Becoming involved in politics, he denounced Ian Smith's practices as a prime minister, took part in the rising transnational black liberation ideo-religious movements, and came to be vice-president of the African National Council.
He wrote a book entitled The Gospel According To The Ghetto, and a personalised version of the Lord's Prayer.
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