 Opposition leader Michael Sata of the Patriotic Front defeated Banda in the September 2011 presidential election, and Sata accordingly succeeded Banda as President on 23 September 2011.Banda was born in the town of Miko, Gwanda, Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe); his parents had come from Northern Rhodesia to find employment prior to his birth, and he was sponsored by a local Dutch Reformed Church preacher (and later, the family of B. R. Naik) to continue his education into adulthood.He became involved in politics when he joined the youth wing of the UNIP in 1960.