Ghaleb Cachalia

Ghaleb Cachalia (born 12 November 1956) is a South African businessman and former Member of Parliament (MP). He is the son of anti-Apartheid activists Amina and Yusuf Cachalia, and a relative of former African National Congress (ANC) MP Ismail Mahomed Cachalia.

Early life Cachalia was born in Johannesburg in 1956, and grew up in Vrededorp, Fordsburg.

He attended the Waterford School in Eswatini (formerly Swaziland), to avoid the apartheid education system in South Africa. However, his schooling there was interrupted when the South African government threatened him with “passport issues” because of his parents' involvement in anti-Apartheid activism. He was sent abroad to stay with his uncle and aunt in Britain, where he was forced to remain for ten years.

While in the UK, he received a scholarship to study at the United World College of the Atlantic in Wales (1973-5), and then went on to read history at the University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies (1976-9).

He campaigned in the Anti-Apartheid Movement. Upon completion of his studies, he returned to South Africa, and went to the University of the Witwatersrand to study law, a degree which he did not complete. While at the university, he joined the Black Students Society and became its vice-president. This led him to turn to the DA, who he had "always valued" … "as a loyal opposition". He joined the DA as an ordinary member in early 2016, He lost to the ANC's candidate by only 11 votes.

In April 2017, Cachalia laid a criminal charge of incitement and intimidation against Ekurhuleni Mayor, Mzwandile Masina, for threatening white anti-Zuma protestors with violence, and requested that the Ekurhuleni Council Speaker, Patricia Khumalo, investigate the matter.

He was sworn in as a DA MP on 4 May 2017, and Philip de Lange took over the DA leadership in Ekurhuleni.

Positions Cachalia considers himself "a liberal with a small L". He supports freedom of expression, and has defended Helen Zille in that respect, whom he has characterised as well-intentioned. He considers the Economic Freedom Fighters "social fascists".

On 18 January 2024, Cachalia resigned as a member of the DA and parliament over differences with the party’s stance on the war between Israel and Hamas.