Jonas Malheiros Savimbi (born 1934) was a founder and the leader of UNITA (National Union for the Total Independence of Angola) which first fought against Portuguese rule in Angola and later against the socialist government led by the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA).

Jonas Malheiros Savimbi was born on August 3, 1934, at Munhango, in the Moxico province of central Angola. His father was a longtime employee of the Benguela railroad. Savimbi attended the Protestant missionary school in his father's home village in Bie province and later transferred to another missionary school at Dondi. He then attended secondary school, first at Silva Porto (now called Bie), the largest town in central Angola, and then at Sa da Bandeira (now called Lubango) in the south.

Savimbi had already received far more education than most Angolans, who under Portuguese colonial rule had little opportunity of going to school. In 1958 his...