The awards(National Orders)are presented on the Freedom Day of South
Africa that is celebrated on April 27 to mark the day on which Nelson
Mandela took over as the country’s first democratically-elected
President in 1994. Among the recipients of the order was veteran Indian
diplomat Enuga Sreenivasula Reddy who had led the fight against
apartheid at the UN since 1963 received the Order of the Companions of
OR Tambo(Silver).The second highest award called the Order of the Baobab
was presented to Lenasia-based community worker Suraya Khan, popularly
known to all as “Aunty Bibi”, while the same order in Silver went to
journalist and community activist Yusuf Abramjee and pioneering skin
cloning plastic surgeon Dr Ridwan Mia. Prof Quarraisha Abdool Karim
received the Order of Mapungubwe in Bronze for her internationally
acclaimed research into HIV Aids.
