Queen leads tributes to South Africa’s Archbishop Desmond Tutu after death aged 90

26 December 2021, 07:44 | Updated: 26 December 2021, 15:51

South Africa’s Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate and anti-apartheid veteran, has died aged 90.

The President's Office confirmed his death on Sunday following his battle with prostate cancer.

In recent years the outspoken critic, who had been diagnosed in the 1990s, was hospitalised on several occasions to treat infections associated with his cancer treatment.

"Ultimately, at the age of 90, he died peacefully at the Oasis Frail Care Centre in Cape Town this morning," Dr Ramphela Mamphele, acting chairperson of the Archbishop Desmond Tutu IP Trust and Co-ordinator of the Office of the Archbishop, said in a statement on behalf of the Tutu family.

No details were given on his cause of death.

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Tributes paid to Desmond Tutu following his death aged 90

Tutu was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 for his campaign of non-violent opposition to South Africa's white minority rule.

"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.

President Ramaphosa described Tutu as "an iconic spiritual leader, anti-apartheid activist and global human rights campaigner".

He said he was "a patriot without equal; a leader of principle and pragmatism who gave meaning to the biblical insight that faith without works is dead".

Labour peer and author, Lord Peter Hain, who was involved in the campaign to end Apartheid, said Mr Tutu was "indispensable".

He told Iain Dale on LBC: "I don't think there would have been many figures in history like Desmund Tutu, both an inspirational figure, able to rouse audiences to great passion and enthusiasm, but also to drop his voice almost to a whisper.

"What you saw of Desmund Tutu in public was pretty well what you got in private as well. He was the same person.

"He was also very direct, and he would say what he thought. Not in an unpleasant way, or any sense a bombastic way, but he was simply saying what he felt - and he was almost always right."

The Queen led tributes to Tutu in a message of condolence following his sad death.

She said: "I am joined by the whole Royal Family in being deeply saddened by the news of the death of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a man who tirelessly championed human rights in South Africa and across the world.

"I remember with fondness my meetings with him and his great warmth and humour. Archbishop Tutu's loss will be felt by the people of South Africa, and by so many people in Great Britain, Northern Ireland and across the Commonwealth, where he was held in such high affection and esteem."

Boris Johnson also paid tribute to Tutu, describing him as a "critical figure in the fight against apartheid and in the struggle to create a new South Africa".

He said Tutu will be remembered for his "spiritual leadership and irrepressible good humour".

The Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell described Tutu as a "giant" and one of the few who could unite the people of South Africa post-Apartheid.

He said: "One of the great and abiding images of the second half of the 20th century was Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela dancing in the courtroom at the end of the closing session of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Cape Town. Nelson Mandela asked his friend Desmond Tutu to chair the commission.

"It was a bold and creative way of helping a nation divided brutally between black and white learn to live in glorious technicolour by facing up to the horrors of its past and by putting the Christian imperative for forgiveness alongside the need for truth as the only way of achieving reconciliation.

"And Desmond Tutu was asked to chair it because this incredibly joyful little disciple of Jesus Christ was one of the few people in South Africa, other than Nelson Mandela himself, who could unite the nation and carry the trust of everyone.

"In this respect, he was a giant."

Singer Boy George described Archbishop Desmond Tutu as a "beautiful soul" as he joined others in paying tribute following the news of his death.

The Culture Club singer tweeted: "Happy to say I met Arch Bishop Desmond Tutu and he was indeed a beautiful soul who gave me faith that some humans do have a strong love frequency. An amazing man, a powerful energy and one of God's finest! R.I.P."

Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab described Archbishop Desmond Tutu as a "truly great figure".

He tweeted: "Sad to hear of the passing of Desmond Tutu.

"A truly great figure, who I had the privilege to meet in The Hague when he was working for the victims of war crimes. His adage, 'Don't raise your voice, improve your argument', has never felt more apt."