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.
[2] Cachalia himself left South Africa between 1936 and 1941 to study Islamic philosophy in India.
[1] Upon his return to South Africa, Cachalia became an influential figure in the Transvaal Indian Congress (TIC) and South African Indian Congress (SAIC), ultimately serving as secretary of the SAIC.
[2][5] Mandela, by then serving as President of South Africa, described his death as a "great personal blow".