Aged 87, Kathrada reportedly died on Tuesday (March 28) due to complications following brain surgery to remove a blood clot.

"We commend Mr Kathrada for his contribution to the nation as a whole during and after the struggle," said SASCOC chief executive, Tubby Reddy.

"As the macro sports body of South Africa, we hope the legacy he left behind will be carried forward in similar fashion."

Kathrada was politically active during the anti-apartheid battle and was a member of the African National Congress (ANC).

In 1963 Kathrada was arrested at the South African internal headquarters of the military wing of the ANC and charged with attempting to overthrow the government.

He was sentenced to life imprisonment along with Nelson Mandela and a number of other ANC members but was eventually released in 1989.

When South African President Frederik Willem de Klerk cancelled the bans on the ANC and released Mandela in 1990, Kathrada served on the interim leadership committees of the ANC.

In the first democratic South African elections in 1994, Kathrada was elected as a Member of Parliament for the ANC and was appointed as the political adviser to President Mandela.

Kathrada was awarded a number of accolades during his life, including the Isitwalandwe Award, the ANC’s highest possible honour.

While in prison he received four honorary doctorates and was voted 46th in the top 100 Great South Africans in 2004.

South Africa's President Jacob Zuma had ordered the national flag to fly at half-mast following his death and had postponed a Cabinet meeting so that officials could attend Kathrada's funeral which took place in Johannesburg on Wednesday (March 29).