He studied medicine in the USA and practised in Britain before returning to lead his country (formerly Nyasaland) to independence. As the first President of the Republic of Malawi he created an autocratic and paternalistic one-party state; a pragmatist, he was the first Black African leader to visit South Africa (1970) and later established trading links with it. Banda was defeated in Malawi’s first multiparty elections in 1994; the following year he was acquitted on charges of murdering four political opponents.