FORMER Zimbabwean President Canaan Banana lost an appeal on Monday of his conviction on sexual assault charges and gay sex offenses and has been ordered to spend a year in jail. He is expected to report to jail later on Monday. One year of his sentence has been suspended. The 64-year-old Banana was convicted in 1999 of 11 counts of sodomy and abusing his power to sexually assault and carry out “unnatural acts” with men, most of whom were on his presidential staff. Sodomy is illegal in Zimbabwe. Banana, who has appealed the conviction, served alongside Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe, who was then prime minister, as Zimbabwe’s ceremonial president after independence in 1980. His post was abolished when Mugabe became president in 1987.