Tichafa Samuel Parirenyatwa

Doctor Tichafa Samuel Parirenyatwa
First Vice-President of ZAPU
In office January 1962 – August 1962
Personal details
Born	1927 Rusape, Southern Rhodesia
Died	1962 Bulawayo, Southern Rhodesia
Political party	Zimbabwe African People's Union (1961–present)
Spouse(s)	Emely Mkwananzi
Children	David Parirenyatwa
Alma mater	Fort Hare University University of Witwatersrand
Occupation	Politician
Profession	Physician

Tichafa Samuel Parirenyatwa (1927–1962) was Zimbabwe's first trained black physician, medical doctor and the first Vice-President of the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU). He rose to prominence during ZAPU's political struggle against the colonial administration in Southern Rhodesia.

Parirenyatwa was born at Rusape in Manicaland and grew up in Sakubva township, Mutare. Along with many future Zimbabwean nationalists, he matriculated at South Africa's University of Fort Hare in the Eastern Cape, subsequently obtaining his degree from the University of Witwatersrand. He later underwent further medical training in Durban. Two other black Zimbabweans were shortly to follow in his footsteps, Silas Mundawarara, who was appointed Zimbabwe Rhodesia's Minister of Health in 1979 and Edward Munatsireyi Pswarayi, Deputy Minister of Health in the late 1980s.

Upon returning to Southern Rhodesia, Parirenyatwa was instrumental in forming the Mashonaland Herbalists' Association – the first organisation of n'angas in Sub-Saharan Africa at the time. This group recognised traditional healers as public servants and set a general code of conduct for dealings with the Rhodesian public.

Parirenyatwa resigned from government service in 1961 to commit to politics full time, having joined the National Democratic Party upon the banning of the Southern Rhodesia African National Congress. It was around this time that he emerged as one of the leading nationalists in the territory, alongside Joshua Nkomo, Robert Mugabe, and Ndabaningi Sithole.

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