Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and veteran of South Africa’s activist, dies aged 90

Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the veteran of South Africa’s activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate died aged 90.

He was diagnosed with prostate cancer in the late 1990s and in recent years he had been hospitalized several times to treat infections associated with his cancer treatment.

Regarded as a tireless activist, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 for combatting white minority rule in South Africa.

“The passing of Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu is another chapter of bereavement in our nation’s farewell to a generation of outstanding South Africans who have bequeathed us a liberated South Africa,” President Cyril Ramaphosa said in a statement.

Tutu coined and popularised the term “Rainbow Nation” to describe South Africa when Mandela became president in 1994.

At the time, Tutu was serving as the first black Anglican archbishop of Cape Town.

Desmond Tutu was appointed archbishop in 1986 after being ordained at the age of 30, he used his position to advocate for international sanctions against apartheid, and later to lobby for rights globally.

Condolence messages from all over the world are pouring in on social media following the news of Tutu’s demise.