Banana was removed from the office of President following a constitutional amendment that instated Prime Minister Robert Mugabe. In the 1990s, her husband faced criminal charges for sodomy and Banana and her daughter sought political asylum in the United Kingdom in October 2000. She was awarded British citizenship in 2006, and took the oath of allegiance on 10 February 2006 at a ceremony in the London Borough of Haringey in front of the Mayor of Haringey. After Mugabe resigned in 2017, Banana made a statement hoping that his successor, Emmerson Mnangagwa, would have a "Damascene conversion, like St Paul" and turn away from the evils of Mugabe's government and the ethnic cleansing of the Gukurahundi. Despite her term as First Lady, Janet Banana did not receive a pension from either Mugabe or Mnangagwa. She later received her spousal pension after her return to Zimbabwe after 18 years in the United Kingdom. She returned to live in Bulawayo in 2019. Janet Banana died on 29 July 2021 at Bulawayo's Mater Dei Hospital. References External links B.B.C. (British Broadcasting Co. – Woman's Hour – Janet Banana 1938 births 2021 deaths First Ladies of Zimbabwe Zimbabwean emigrants to the United Kingdom Zimbabwean exiles