Tichafa Samuel Parirenyatwa (17 July 1927 – 14 August 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. Early life 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. 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. Political career 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. In January 1962, Parirenyatwa was appointed deputy president of the newly formed ZAPU by Nkomo for his work in organising the nationalist party network on executive lines. Well respected among Rhodesia's black upper class, ZAPU's new deputy also won favour with the rural poor via his respect for cultural traditions and continued work with the Mashonaland herbalists. One of Parirenyatwa's most difficult roles in his new position was to broker negotiations between the radical nationalists and the Southern Rhodesia Trade Union Congress, represented by Reuben Jamela, who had previously experienced a falling out with ZAPU over his refusal to demonstrate his allegiance to Marxism-Leninism by joining the communist-led World Federation of Trade Unions. Despite this rift Parirenyatwa recognised that union support was necessary for the party to survive, and hoped to bring Jamela's supporters back into the nationalist fold without confrontation. In a six-hour meeting with the SRTUC, he proposed awarding the latter an executive position with ZAPU in exchange for disassociation from the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions. Jamela's floundering relationship with the nationalists was finally severed by Nkomo and Mugabe upon Parirenyatwa's death in August 1962; he went on to form his own Pan-African Socialist Party (PASU) later