Hero of South Africa’s anti-apartheid crusade, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, has died, aged 90, on Sunday.

President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa, himself, one of the fighters in the anti-apartheid wars confirmed Tutu’s death.

He said: “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.

“Desmond Tutu was a patriot without equal; a leader of principle and pragmatism who gave meaning to the biblical insight that faith without works is dead,” he said.

“A man of extraordinary intellect, integrity and invincibility against the forces of apartheid, he was also tender and vulnerable in his compassion for those who had suffered oppression, injustice and violence under apartheid, and oppressed and downtrodden people around the world.”

Archbishop Tutu was awarded the Nobel Peace prize in 1984 for his role in the anti-apartheid struggle.