[2] 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.

In the late 1990s, Cachalia sold the businesses, which could not compete with clothing manufacturers from Asia in terms of price and supply.

However, he had become increasingly disillusioned since the Arms Deal controversy,[3] and now believes that the ANC cannot be saved from the "kleptocracy",[2] corruption and self-interest that have come to characterise the party.

[16] 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.