Yusuf Cachalia

Yusuf Mohamed Cachalia (15 January 1915 – 9 April 1995) was a South African anti-apartheid activist. He was the secretary of the South African Indian Congress, in which capacity he played a central role in organising the 1952 Defiance Campaign.

Early life and education Cachalia was born on 15 January 1915 in Johannesburg. His father, A. M. (Ahmed Mohamed) Cachalia, was a politically active Indian: he was a close ally to Mohandas Gandhi and had served as president of the Transvaal British Indian Association. Cachalia himself left South Africa between 1936 and 1941 to study Islamic philosophy in India. He was known for his "eclectic" personal political philosophy, which combined orthodox Islamic thought with Gandhian philosophy and Marxism. Like Dadoo and Mandela, he was an advocate for closer cooperation between Indians and black Africans.

Cachalia represented the SAIC on the joint planning council that organised the non-racial 1952 Defiance Campaign, Mandela, by then serving as President of South Africa, described his death as a "great personal blow".

Personal life Cachalia was Muslim. he remarried to Amina Asvat, the daughter of another Gandhi ally, Ebrahim Asvat. In her 2013 memoirs, Asvat alleged that some of Cachalia's friends disapproved of their marriage, leading to rifts between Cachalia and his elder brother, Moulvi, and between Cachalia and Ahmed Kathrada. Nonetheless, Asvat said that Cachalia was "a liberated husband. He always let me do exactly what I felt necessary." Their two children are Coco, a media personality, and Ghaleb, a politician.