Kantibhai Patel

Kantibhai Gordhanbhai Patel (28 October 1928 – 10 September 2011) was an Indian-born Zimbabwean anti-colonial activist, politician, and businessman who served as a senator in the 1980s before serving as a non-constituency Member of Parliament in the 1990s. A member of Zimbabwe's governing party, the ZANU–PF, he served on the party's Central Committee and Politburo. Following his death, he was declared a National Hero of Zimbabwe.

Early life and education Patel was born on 28 October 1928 into a peasant family in Dharmaj in what is today Gujarat in India. He studied for a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Bombay but did not finish the degree as he moved to Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia) in 1951 where he found employment as a shop assistant for a year. Patel became an activist against the British colonial government and formed a Shop Assistants' Union. He was later appointed to the Provincial Race Relations Committee in Kalomo.

Patel was also a member of the board of trustees of the Child Survival and Development Foundation and a member of the board of the 21 February Movement. He served as treasurer of the Zimbabwe–Indian Friendship Association as well. He was treated at The Avenues Clinic in Harare before being transferred to the Linksfield Hospital in South Africa where he died on 10 September 2011. Patel's remains were cremated at the Pioneer Cemetery as per Hindu burial rights and some of his ashes were transported to India to be thrown in the Ganges River.