John Gwitira

John Munodawafa Gwitira (17 October 1949 – 27 April 2022), also known by his nom-de-guerre Kenneth Gwindingwi, was a Zimbabwean veterans' activist and politician. He served as the Chairman of the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association from 1989 to 1997. Gwitira was born in 1949 in Nyanadzi. He was educated at Chibero College of Agriculture, where he was expelled for his political activism. In 1970, he joined the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA) and began fighting in the Rhodesian Bush War. After the war ended and many veterans became disgruntled at the lack of benefits they were expecting from the government, the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association (ZNLWVA) was formed in April 1989. Gwitira was its first chairman from its founding to 1997, when he was succeeded by Chenjerai Hunzvi. After 1997, he served as ZNLWVA's deputy chairman. In 2016, he ran unsuccessfully in the ZANU–PF primaries for a seat in Parliament for the Chimanimani West constituency. Early life and education Gwitira was born on 17 October 1949 at the Nyanadzi Clinic in Nyanadzi, a village in what was then Southern Rhodesia (today Zimbabwe). All the guerrillas took a Chimurenga name (a nom-de-guerre). The names were used to disguise one's identity and for some, to evoke fear in the villagers and white farmers. Gwitira took the name Kenneth Gwindingwi (Gwindingwi is a Shona word roughly translating to jungle).