Johannesburg, Aug 22 - Sonia Gandhi, president of India's ruling Congress party, has felicitated South African freedom fighter Ahmed Kathrada on his 80th birthday.

Gandhi Friday recalled Kathrada's rich contribution to the struggle against apartheid in a message read out by his long-time friend Mosie Moolla, who represented the African National Congress in India during the apartheid era.

'We in India have admired your courage of conviction and resolute determination to fight for the dignity and freedom of the people of South Africa,' Gandhi said, adding that 'the noble objective of the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation (that has been established here) to deepen the values of non racialism and promoting the values of rights in the freedom charter is indeed commendable.'

Kathrada has been a leading voice for over 60 years in South Africa's quest to establish a non-racial society.

As celebrations continued countrywide for the past week to mark Kathrada's birthday, Indian Consul-General Navdeep Suri hosted a dinner at his residence for a select group that included Indian Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma, who is currently in the country on an official visit.

A long time compatriot of global icon Nelson Mandela, Kathrada was sentenced to life imprisonment for treason in the infamous Rivonia trial along with Mandela and four others. He spent over two decades with Mandela at the notorious Robben Island prison.