Cachalia, who was a member of the Transvaal Indian Congress from
a young age, was a key founder of the Federation of South
African Women (Fedsaw). She was also one of the leaders of the
1956 women’s march against pass laws. In a recent BBC World
Service interview at her home in Johannesburg, she spoke to
Lerato Mbele about growing up and realising that she had to take
a stand against injustice in South Africa: “My father instructed
us about us being Muslim…but much later was when I realised I
was Indian. When I went to a school for Indians only in
Fordsburg…they called us coolies.” She first heard the
derogatory term at a nearby Afrikaans school. Cachalia was the
ninth out of eleven children and, as the youngest daughter but
also because she was born with a heart defect, she said she was
spoilt. When she realised there was something wrong in her
country, she decided, in spite of her frailness, to become an
activist. Her father always told her that she should stand her
ground, fight for herself and her country