The first black president of Zimbabwe, Mr Canaan Banana, has died after a long illness at the age of 67.
President Robert Mugabe, in a tribute on the radio, called him "a rare gift to the nation," and said he was likely to be declared a national hero.
He said Rev Banana, who was an ordained Methodist clergyman, received treatment for an undisclosed illness in Britain and South Africa before returning to Zimbabwe where he was sustained on life-support equipment.
Mr Banana served as the country's ceremonial president from March 1980 to December 31st, 1987. Mr Mugabe was sworn in as executive president on January 1st, 1988, after serving as prime minister.
In 1998, Rev Banana was sentenced to 10 years in prison for his role in a gay sex scandal that embarrassed the government after President Mugabe had denounced gays and lesbians as "lower than pigs or dogs" and urged Zimbabweans to turn them over to police.
Mr Banana was convicted by Zimbabwe's high court, but only served six months of his sentence in an open prison that allowed him shopping trips to the capital.
He continued to deny that he was a homosexual and denounced the allegations as "a mortuary of lies".
He had fled to South Africa during his trial but was persuaded to return by then President Nelson Mandela.