Tributes poured in on Friday after the death of anti-apartheid struggle icon Vella Pillay, who died in London this week.
Pillay passed away on Thursday afternoon. He was 80.
Professor Vishnu Padayachee, who is attached to the developmental studies unit at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, said he had known Pillay for more than 20 years.
"I first met him in London. He was already a major figure within the liberation movement," he said.
Padayachee said Pillay and his wife Patsy left South Africa in 1948 "to escape prosecution under the Mixed Marriages Act".
"Vella served in the Transvaal Indian Congress, the ANC and the Communist Party of South Africa before he left South Africa for London.
"He played a major role in establishing the Anti-Apartheid Movement, serving under the late Archbishop Trevor Huddlestone. Dr Pillay was also a central figure in setting up and expanding the infrastructure of the ANC in exile from the early 1960s," said Padayachee.
He received an honorary doctorate in economics from the University of Durban-Westville in 1995.
He is survived by his wife Patsy and two sons, Anand and Deenan.