Ismail Ahmed Cachalia

Ismail Ahmed Cachalia (1908–2003), popularly known as Moulvi, was a South African political activist and a leader of Transvaal Indian Congress and the African National Congress. He was one of the leaders of the Indian Passive Resistance Campaign of 1946 and the Defiance Campaign in 1952. The Government of India awarded the fourth highest Indian civilian honour of Padma Shri in 1977.

Biography Moulvi Ismail Ahmed Cachalia, who stepped beyond the verge on August 8 at the age of 95, straddled two centuries and two continents. What was remarkable was his bearing the legacy of two cultures — African and Asian, said Gopalkrishna Gandhi, the former Indian ambassador to Norway, on hearing the news of Cachalia's death. an anti apartheid campaigner and a businessman of Indian origin who was in prison at the time of Ismail's birth. He is reported to have participated in the non-cooperation movement in India during that time but returned to South Africa in 1931 to join his brother, Yusuf Cachalia, in family business.

During the next six years, Cachalia worked with other leaders of the African National Congress, including Nelson Mandela and Albert Lutuli, in the non violent struggle against the oppression of the apartheid regime and led the Defiance Campaign of 1952 as its Deputy Volunteer-in-Chief; Nelson Mandela was the Volunteer-in Chief. He was arrested and sentenced to a suspended 18 months in prison, subject to keeping away from political activities. as a delegate of the African National Congress and the South African Indian Congress, along with Moses Kotane. to India via Botswana. along with Alfred Nzo who would later become the first foreign minister of post apartheid South Africa. to the nation at the Braamfontein cemetery on 15 July 1994 along with Walter Sisulu and also during Jyoti Basu's visit to Johannesburg in 1997.