After he left the provincial government he was appointed as a law professor at Wits University and, from 2022, as the chairperson of the National Anti-Corruption Advisory Council.
[1][2] In the late 1970s and 1980s, Cachalia was active in anti-apartheid student politics at Wits University; he was detained several times and banned under the Internal Security Act.
[1] In the early 1990s, he worked as a lawyer at Bell Dewar and Hall and as a researcher at the Centre for Applied Legal Studies; he also represented the Transvaal Indian Congress during negotiations at the Convention for a Democratic South Africa.
[4][1] In July 2012, President Jacob Zuma appointed him to a three-year term as non-executive director on the board of the South African Reserve Bank.
[4][10] In September 2022, Cachalia began a three-year term as chairperson of the National Anti-Corruption Advisory Council, a body newly created by Zuma's successor, President Cyril Ramaphosa, to prevent and eradicate corruption and state capture, including by guiding the government's response to the findings of the Zondo Commission.