{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} '''Ishwarlal Laloo "Isu" Chiba''' (5 November 1930 – 8 December 2017) was a South African politician and revolutionary. He was arrested and sentenced at the Little Rivonia Trial in 1964 with Mac Maharaj and Wilton Mkwayi to join Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Govan Mbeki and other revolutionary prisoners on Robben Island.<ref>{{cite book | last =O'Malley | first =Padraig | title =Shades of difference. Mac Maharaj and the struggle for South Africa | url =https://archive.org/details/shadesofdifferen00omal | url-access =registration | publisher =Viking | date =2007 | location =New York | pages =[https://archive.org/details/shadesofdifferen00omal/page/137 137–146]}}</ref>
==Early life== He was born to a Hindu family in Johannesburg. As a child he attended Bree Street Primary School and later Johannesburg Indian High School in Fordsburg.<ref name="IOL01">{{Cite web|url=https://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/gauteng/gauteng-premier-mourns-compassionate-comrade-laloo-chiba-12329504|title=Gauteng premier mourns 'compassionate comrade' Laloo Chibadate|work=IOL News|language=en|date=8 December 2017|access-date=3 May 2019}}</ref> He married Luxmi in India on 5 May 1952.<ref name=IOL01/> In the early 1950s, Chiba became friends with Ahmed Kathrada, Herbie Pillay and Bobby and Tommy Vassen, all members of the Transvaal Indian Youth Congress (TIYC).<ref name=IOL01/>
== Revolutionary == Prior to the events in Sharpville, Chiba was an activist in the Transvaal Indian Congress in the late 1950s and the South African Communist Party in 1960.<ref name="IOL01" /><ref name="Pres" /> After the Sharpeville massacre in 1960, he concluded that peaceful protest had failed and military action was necessary, so he joined the ANC's armed wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) in 1961.<ref name="Pres" />
He was a platoon commander in 1962 and a member of the group's High Command by 1963.<ref name="Pres" /> He was captured and tortured after a failed attempt to sabotage a railway line.<ref name="Pres" /> He was arrested on the 6 July 1964 for sabotage. He and the rest of the group were sentenced as members of a banned organisation and sent to Robben Island.<ref name="Pres" /> Released in 1982, he continued the work of the ANC as a member of the United Democratic Front.<ref name="Pres" /> In 1983, he became one of the vice-presidents of the Transvaal Indian Congress.<ref name="IOL01" /> He was rearrested in July 1985 and released without a trial in March 1986, after which he went into hiding so he could continue his work for the ANC.<ref name="IOL01" />
Upon the ANC's legalization in 1990, he became the president of its Lenasia branch.<ref name="IOL01" /> He was elected to South Africa's parliament in 1994 and 1999.<ref name="Pres" /> In 2004 he was named a member of the Order of Luthuli in silver.<ref name="Pres">{{Cite web|url=http://www.thepresidency.gov.za/national-orders/recipient/laloo-chiba-1930|title=Laloo Chiba (1930 - )|last=|first=|date=|work=The Presidency: Republic of South Africa|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190510091133/http://www.thepresidency.gov.za/national-orders/recipient/laloo-chiba-1930|archive-date=10 May 2019|access-date=3 May 2019|url-status=dead}}</ref> He was a board member of the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation.<ref name="IOL01" />
==Death== Chiba died on the 8 December 2017.<ref name="obit">{{cite news |last1=Gerber |first1=Jan |title=Struggle stalwart Laloo Chiba dies |url=https://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/struggle-stalwart-laloo-chiba-dies-20171208 |access-date=2 May 2019 |publisher=News24 |date=8 December 2017}}</ref> He is survived by wife Luxmi, three daughters - Gita, Kailash, and Yaswanti, seven grandchildren, and four great grandchildren.<ref name=IOL01/><ref name=obit/> He was laid to rest on the following day at Avalon Cemetery.
==References== {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Chiba, Laloo}} Category:1930 births Category:2017 deaths Category:South African revolutionaries Category:South African anti-apartheid activists Category:Recipients of the Order of Luthuli Category:People from Johannesburg Category:Members of the National Assembly of South Africa 1994–1999 Category:Members of the National Assembly of South Africa 1999–2004 Category:South African politicians of Indian descent
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