Race campaigner collects OBE

Hanif Bhamjee came to Wales from apartheid-era South Africa

An veteran anti-apartheid campaigner has collected an OBE from the Queen in front of his family, who flew in from South Africa from the ceremony.

Hanif Bhamjee has been honoured for services to race relations, the charity and voluntary sector and for founding the Wales Anti-Apartheid Movement.

His mother and his brother, Yusuf, who is a regional politician in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, were at Buckingham Palace on Friday as the Queen presented Mr Bhamjee with his medal.

He told BBC News Online he was still coming to terms with the award, which was announced in July.

"It has finally dawned on me," he said.

He said the award demonstrated recognition of anti-racism organisations by the British establishment.

There was always great support in Wales - people here were proportionately more supportive of the anti-apartheid struggle than in England Hanif Bhamjee

"At the same time, withough the involvement of all the people I have worked with, in South Africa, Wales and the UK, I wouldn't have been the kind of person to get it," he said.

"It is a tribute - it is not just for me, but to all of them."

Mr Bhamjee was born in apartheid-era South Africa and campaigned against its whites-only rule from the age of 10.

After friends and colleagues in the African National Congress were arrested, Mr Bhamjee was forced to leave his home country in 1966, arriving in Cardiff in 1972 via London and Birmingham.

"There was always great support in Wales, and research showed that people here were proportionately more supportive of the anti-apartheid struggle than in England," he said.

"We had help from many groups including the National Union of Miners, the eisteddfod and students' groups.

"At its peak, our organisation had 5,000 members across Wales."

New start

The organisation organised opposition to the South African rugby tours of the UK in the 1970s.

The movement ceased to operate in 1994, following the collapse of whites-only rule in South Africa.

But Mr Bhamjee added that there was talk of re-establishing the network to raise funds for education and Aids in South Africa to mark the 10th anniversary of the post-apartheid government of South Africa being in power.

Mr Bhamjee now specialises in charity and immigration cases, as well as serving as secretary of anti-poverty group Action for Southern Africa and sitting on the board of the Wales Council For Voluntary Action.