Ishwarlal Laloo Isu Chiba

Ishwarlal Laloo Isu Chiba was born on 5th of November 1930 in Johannesburg where he was also raised. His parents emigrated to South Africa from Gujarat.Chiba abondoned secondary school to help provide for his family The 1956 Treason Trial sparked his interest in politics, which led him to join the Transvaal Indian Congress (TIC). In 1959, he joined the South African Communist Party (SACP) recruited by Ahmed Kathrada.Chiba joined uMkhonto we Sizwe  (MK) in 1961 also went under military training in the Soviet Union and was involved in its first sabotage units. By 1962, he was promoted to platoon commander of MK. Owing to his commitment and leadership, he was asked to become a member of the Second National High Command in 1963 with Wilton Mkwayi as the leader. Mkwayi was one of the 156 accused in the 1956 Treason Trial who had inadvertently been released during the 1960 state of emergency.

In April 1963, Chiba and his comrades Solly Vania, Indres Naidoo and Shirish Nanabhai were arrested after planning to sabotage a railway line. He was taken to Marshall Square and held in solitary confinement before being taken to the railway headquarters for interrogation. During this period, Chiba was detained under the newly passed 90 Day detention law. He was brutally tortured and assaulted by the Security Police leaving him deaf in one ear. However, they failed to get him to confess and implicate his comrades. Unable to extract any information from him, they were unable to lay charges. Chiba was released and soon went underground and resumed the struggle.

Chiba served in the Second High command until his arrest in July 1964 alongside Babla Saloojee, Paul Joseph, Mac Maharaj, Steve Naidoo and Amien Kajee. After his arrest, he was taken to the Greys Building (the Security Branch offices) where he was subjected to sleep deprivation. He was later held at the Langlaagte police station under the 90 day detention law before being transferred to Pretoria Central Prison.In October 1964, together with five others, Chiba was charged with sabotage and membership of a banned organisation. His trial became known as the "Little Rivonia" as this was the second MK High Command arrested by the security police, Chiba was sentenced to 18 years imprisonment which he served on Robben Island.During imprisonment time he earned a bachelor's degree from the University of South Africa,served for some time in the prisoners' leadership committee known as the High Organ.

On the Island Chiba stayed in B Section alongside other leading figures in the struggle. During his imprisonment, Chiba and Mac Maharaj were responsible for Nelson Mandela’s manuscript of his autobiography Long Walk to Freedom. Mandela would write up the manuscript which was then given to Chiba, who spent the next night transferring Mandela’s handwriting to his own almost microscopic shorthand, reducing ten pages of foolscap to a single sheet of paper. It would be Maharaj’s job to smuggle the manuscript to the outside world.”

On his release, from Robben Island, in December 1982, Chiba became active in the United Democratic Front (UDF) and continued to work in the African National Congress (ANC) underground. Chiba was detained again for seven and a half months during the 1985 state of emergency. On his release, he was instructed by the UDF to go underground and advance the cause of the UDF emerging in January 1987.In 1986 Chiba was detained without charge under the state of emergency for 228 days,at the age of 55 years he was believed to be the oldest detainee in the Transvaal at the time.In 1990Chiba became chairperson of the Lenasia branch of the African National Congress and was appointed to its executive committe in the Pretoria-Witwatersrand-Vereeniging region.Chiba was elected ANC Member of Parliament in the first and second democratic elections in 1994 and 1999. In 2004, the South African Government conferred Isu Laloo Chiba with The Order of Luthuli in Silver for his lifetime contribution to the struggle for a non-racial, non-sexist, just and democratic South Africa.