Ismail Mahomed Cachalia

Cachalia was born on 20 December 1929.^[2] He was first elected to the National Assembly in 1994, in South Africa's first post-apartheid elections,^[3] but he resigned from his seat before the end of the legislative term.^[4] He returned in the middle of the next legislative term, on 3 July 2001, when he was sworn in to fill the casual vacancy caused by Melanie Verwoerd's resignation.^[5] He was elected to a full term in the seat in the 2004 general election, representing the Gauteng constituency,^[2] and retired after the 2009 general election.^{[citation needed]}

He is a member of South Africa's politically illustrious Cachalia family: he is the father of Firoz Cachalia and Azhar Cachalia,^[6] and he is also related to Ghaleb Cachalia.^[7]